If you had told me a few years ago that I’d be trading in my scrubs for a camera bag, I probably would have been in disbelief. I’ve spent the last several years as a registered nurse, a job I love, one that taught me how to show up for people on some of the hardest and most tender days of their lives. I never imagined that same job would one day lead me to becoming a motherhood photographer. But here I am, and it turns out the two have more in common than I initially expected.
Becoming a Mother Changed How I See Time
Last year, I had my first baby. A moment I have waited my whole life for. Truly, I have dreamed of becoming a mom for as long as I can remember.
But nothing could have prepared me for how fast it all goes. No matter how many people warned me of how quickly time passes, I still find myself in disbelief of how fast he is changing. It feels like just last month he was a tiny newborn asleep on my chest and doing the infamous and oh so cute newborn scrunch. I blinked and somehow he is running around, learning to talk with the sweetest little voice, and getting excited for every dog that he sees. Often times it is moving so fast I feel like I’m missing these versions of him even while I’m living it. I find myself wanting to remember these moments how they are right now and never wanting to forget him the exact way he is today.
Becoming a mother didn’t just change my heart. It changed how I see time itself. Suddenly I wanted to preserve every ordinary moment, the way his hand curled around my finger, his knuckle dimples, the sound of his laugh, the way he says “wow!” when he sees new things.
That’s when photography stopped being a hobby and became something closer to a calling. I wanted to freeze time. Not just for myself, but for other families living through their own version of this the families who will one day look back and want to remember exactly how small their baby’s hand once was and exactly how their baby scrunched as a newborn, but most of all remember exactly how this time felt.
What Nursing Has Taught Me About Being Present
People are sometimes surprised when I tell them I’m a nurse turned photographer. But honestly, the heart of both jobs is similar, meeting people exactly where they are in their journey, offering a caring heart, and being fully present with them while you do it.
As a nurse, presence isn’t optional its a huge part of the job. I walk into a room and read what someone needs before they even have to ask me. I slow down when they’re scared. I celebrate with them when they overcome a hardship or milestone. I notice the small things. I hold space for whatever they’re going through, without rushing them through it.
That’s exactly what I try to bring into every photography session. A newborn session isn’t just about getting the perfect photos, it’s about noticing that a mom is exhausted and needs a little extra encouragement or support, or that a toddler needs five extra minutes to warm up and maybe even show me their favorite toys before the camera comes out. It’s about being calm when a baby won’t stop crying, because I’ve been in rooms far more chaotic than that. It’s about caring for the whole family in front of my lens, not just directing them.
Intentionality, patience, and genuine care didn’t just disappear when I became a photographer. If anything, my years of nursing experience are exactly what makes me the photographer I am, gentle, attentive, and with real presence for the family in front of me.
My nursing career has also taught me what it means to be trusted during someone’s vulnerable moments. Patients let me into some of the hardest, most tender chapters of their lives, and I never take that trust lightly. Photography asks for that same kind of trust. Families let me into their homes during the newborn haze, into the exhaustion and the wonder and the mess of it all and I don’t take that lightly either. I know what it means to be let in like that, and I carry it carefully. Wherever you are in your journey, whatever season you’re in, I want to meet you there.
Join me on this journey
I’m still a nurse today, still caring for patients, still learning from the profession every single shift. But I’m also building and dreaming of something new, a photography business rooted in everything nursing has taught me about presence, empathy, and showing up fully for the people in front of me.
This blog is where I’ll be documenting that journey: the sessions, the lessons, the behind-the-scenes of building a business while working full-time and raising a baby who reminds me every day why this work matters. Thank you for being here for the beginning of it.
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