"Life: As it is" Part I - Lauren | Hampton Roads Portrait Photographer

Hi!

Tonight's post is a little different but I am really really excited about it! Tonight's post includes the very first installment of my personal project, Life: As it is. If you're not sure what that is feel free to check it out here before reading further- it will help give you a sense of the whole reason for this shoot and blog post.

BUT the whole point of this post is to feature Lauren; so instead of talking more about the project lets get to it, shall we?!

This is Lauren.

Isn't she BEAUTIFUL?!

Lauren was nominated for Life: As it is by her mother, Marie. Marie has three daughters, including Lauren, and wanted to give Lauren a chance to shine in the spotlight {as anyone with multiple daughters or sisters can tell you that is often something you have to fight for ;) }. 

Marie also wanted to give Lauren a chance to have some POSITIVE ATTENTION as Lauren was born with CH1q25.3-32.1 del. Does it sound familiar? Probably not; as it is so rare that Lauren and her family have yet to hear of or meet ANYONE ELSE who has it! As Marie explains it, CH1q25.3-32.1 del "causes cranial facial abnormalities, bilateral radioulnar stynosis (the bones in her forearm are fused), an autism spectrum diagnosis, and mild ectodermal dyspasia." This affects, among other things, her speech and her abilities to interact with others and pick up on some social cues.

When you are with Lauren all you will see is a gorgeous girl who appears to be a bit shy. She is incredibly smart and could name every single type of dog that was at the park- even the different types of terriers who frankly (other than Charlie Dog) all look alike to me! She is friendly and strong-willed: able to speak up for herself when she was not comfortable with a pose-like standing in high grass with the possibility of lots of bugs. But perhaps most impressively she took direction for posing better than most adults I've worked with (it's a fact)- it was truly a pleasure to get to work with her!  

 

They brought along their dog, Penny!

Easily the second most important person at the shoot tonight was Bow-Wow (who also, for the record, takes posing directions like a champ!).

A very big THANK YOU to Lauren for her willingness to work with me and another big THANK YOU to Marie for the nomination. It was an honor to get to meet Lauren and to learn a little bit about her Life: As it is right now.

Best,
Sarah

*Hair and Makeup by Rylee Spencer

Life: As it is Part II can be found here. 

Life: As it is.

Hi!

I have a new project; maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s called “Life: As it is.” This project is very close to my heart as it attempts to illustrate my philosophy behind portrait photography.

Photography, to me, is about capturing life’s moments- carving out that moment in time and documenting the way you smile, your chosen hairstyle that year, the way Uncle Bill crinkles up his nose when he laughs after telling a joke, or the way your daughter stands on her toes to be bigger than her brother. It’s about truly capturing your life as it is in that very moment- a moment we never get to relive- except through those photographs we took to capture them.

Almost 100% of the time I get inquiries for portrait sessions from individuals and families who want to document a particular milestone (an anniversary, a birth, a homecoming, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, I think these are fantastic reasons to hire a photographer and I hire photographers when I have a milestone, too (we take pictures on our anniversary every single year and I’ve already planned out who I want as my homecoming photographer and my husband doesn’t even have orders yet to deploy!)! But with these inquiry’s I also often hear that people “haven’t had pictures since [their] wedding” or “I’m always the one taking the pictures; it will be nice to be in front of the camera for once” or even “oh no, I’m only interested in pictures of the kids;  I don’t like to have my picture taken.”

 The goal behind Life: As it is is to encourage people not to wait for milestones or wait to “lose a few pounds” before they get in front of the camera. Life is now. This is a moment you will never get back…it is who you are and is a part of who you will become. Don’t wait until your hair grows back out or you fit into those jeans from high school or you wake up and realize it’s been 7 years since you last had photos. Today is your life. Today is your chance to capture it exactly as it is and keep it forever.

With that mentality I have set out to document the life of individuals and families in the area who deserve to be reminded that this part of their life is worth capturing on camera. My hope is to do a segment of Life: As it is every season and in doing so document different portions of life as it is in this world. To do that I needed help….

So, to get the project rolling I opened it up for nominations and I was extremely humbled by the response. It was great to see others nominating people they felt deserved to be featured and it was even cooler to see people nominating themselves and admitting that perhaps it was time to get back in front of the camera. I am so very pleased to announce that the chosen nomination for the first installment of Life: As it is is...........


 actually it's two people!

In one case it is a mother nominated by her daughter and in the other case it is a daughter nominated by her mother. So join me in my excitment as I am honored to announce that Mary Tigner (nominated by daughter Rebecca) and Lauren (nominated by her mother Marie Banner Lewis) are the first two individuals who will be featured in Life: As it is. I am sincerely looking forward to getting to know them both and am eager to document their life as it as and share it with you all this Fall.
  
Stay tuned to the blog because I want to make this project into something BIG and I hope to be able to showcase each individual/family that was nominated.

Best,
Sarah

p.s. new to the blog? be sure to check out my first "welcome" post here or my crash course to Sarah post here!

*for the first installment featuring Lauren, click here !