Three Sisters, Totally Themselves: Chapel Hill NC Newborn Photographer

I was lucky enough to spend a cozy winter morning with this family of five last weekend. What a moment in time! Three sisters— one just a few months old-- getting to know each other in their new trio formation, each personality sparkling delightfully.

These girls know who they are, and they each take up space so distinctly and clearly. Spending time with them from behind the camera--chatting about favorite books, taking breaks from the lens when it got to be overwhelming, jumping on the bed— I remembered what parents of 2+ kids always remark on: that each of their kids came into the world so fully THEMSELVES, and that that core of self endures even as childhood unfurls and they are stretched and shaped by life experience.

As I was editing these photos, I listened to Ani DiFranco’s new song based on her children’s book, The Knowing, and was struck by how much this lyric resonated with these photos: "I have beliefs, and someday those beliefs might change // I have blocks that I like to arrange and rearrange.”

There is so much to celebrate with children, but it often feels like the most poignant thing is that tension between the parts of them that are ever-evolving and the parts of them that will so clearly endure. Our job as adults is to celebrate that tension— to revel in it and dance with it. It’s some the most challenging, luckiest work there is.

My hope for these pictures is that these sisters may see clearly the beauty of their enduring selves and their evolving selves, and find their own joy in the space in between.