Memories Portraits {blogged} » Peeks into Memories | Knoxville Photographer, Nancy Belden

We were so excited/nervous when Hillary Lake from Channel 10 News contacted us a couple of weeks ago about coming to the studio to do a story on our newest photography service, Birth Days by Memories! We were featured on the 11:00 news on Saturday the 18th and again on Sunday. As a part of the story, my very first birth mommy came in to be interviewed along with her beautiful daughter, Anna Kate. We are so thankful to Liz for her glowing testimonial interview, and so grateful to her for skipping out on the Florida game to come to the studio to participate. Miss Anna Kate has grown so much, and we were so, so, so glad to have them back into the studio again!!

It’s finally here… we are so excited to announce the launch of our new birth photography website!! After much debate and deliberation, we came up with a name for these sessions that truly says it all… Birth Days by Memories. We love it, and sincerely hope you do too. This has been quite a journey and we owe a huge thanks to our first Birth Days mommy’s — Robin, Liz, April, Candace & Hannah. We truly appreciate you welcoming us into your lives and inviting us to capture your baby’s journey into the world, you all are amazing ladies and we just couldn’t thank you enough! Without further adieu, please click here to visit Memories newest endeavor and a peek into some very special sessions… Birth Days by Memories!

Miss Addie arrived fashionably at 8:13 on 8/13… just how neat is that?! She was welcomed by such a beautiful and loving family, and I was so honored to be there. Her momma worked so hard and her daddy was so sweet, it was such a beautiful moment to witness the birth of Addie Morgan.

Alright guys, here it is, my first experience photographing a birth… and I owe a huge thanks to Liz and Seth for letting me in on their amazing day! Liz is so beautiful and the entire family was so, so gracious, I could not have asked for more.  All of this to say, as much as I’m talking about myself here, that is not what this day was about… this day was truly about just being there with my camera and this family during their most special day… documenting the first journey of sweet Anna Kate.  It was a true miracle to witness this precious girl enter the world… amazing family, amazing girl!   You guys are the best

And, thanks so much to everyone for the amazing response we have gotten for our birth photography services!  We are excited to have more upcoming births within the next little bit… Hannah & Candace — you’re next girls!

oh, and the artists to these amazing songs are Innocence Mission “Wonderful World” and Matthew West “Safe and Sound”.

Let me start off by saying just how very excited I am to finally reveal this video slideshow!   Many of you already know that my sister is an apprentice for Lisa Coomer, and has been planning for a home delivery ever since she found out she was pregnant.  But I’ve got to share with you a little about this amazing day, because I don’t want the images of the paramedics to leave you wondering.  {And a note about the video, I nearly decided to leave out the paramedic image, but ultimately decided to include it because it was an important part of the day… not a part that we planned on, but a major part of Robin’s delivery… so it’s in there, because real life happens.} My sister texted my mom and I around lunchtime to let us know that it was probably ‘Baby Day’… and not too long after that, we got a phone call from Jason (my brother-in-law) that we had better hurry on over because it was happening fast.  Let me tell you, we drove like a couple of crazy ladies to the other side of town just to make sure we didn’t miss this moment.  Once we got into the house, Robin was nearly ready to push.  Two hours later Luna Summer entered the world (did I mention that we all just knew that this baby would be a boy?!) We were so elated and surprised when Jason announced “It’s a GIRL!” just a second after delivery.  About 45 minutes after Luna was delivered, Robin delivered the placenta but it did not properly detach – part of it was still connected which meant that she was bleeding uncontrollably.  I immediately called 911, and Lisa began giving my sister medication to stop the bleeding.  The ambulance came and took Robin to the hospital, where she had to have surgery to remove the rest of her placenta.  After a couple of days, the hospital released Robin, and she’s doing more than fine now.  Robin showed incredible grace and perseverance during this amazing event, and I have never been more proud to call her my sister… and sweet baby Luna was born perfect and healthy, and is growing more beautiful by the day.  I feel like I should also tell you that what happened during Robin’s delivery is very, very rare; and I don’t want to frighten anyone who is considering a home birth.  Robin was Lisa’s 603 delivery, and this was only the 4th time that she has had to call for an ambulance transport… I don’t know the stats on anything, but I’d say those were pretty good numbers!  And I must say that if you are considering a home birth, I would 100% recommend Lisa.  I found her to be kind and caring, but also bold and assertive when it was necessary… just the combination you need in a good midwife.

Now… onto business.  We have been considering adding Birth Photography to our services for a while now, and now that we have done one… this project is AGO!  Most of our clients have met Michelle, Nancy’s daughter, working in the studio.  Michelle has an excellent eye for photography and also has become quite the Photoshop user around here, and she will be photographing these very special occasions.  Memories is currently looking for 5 expecting parents to allow us into your Labor & Delivery to photograph your amazing experience — at no charge to you!  With these special sessions, you will receive all of your original images, along with about 50-75 images in black & white on disc, a video slideshow set to music on dvd and an additional file that you may upload (if you wish), and a set of black & white 4×6 proofs of all images included in your video.  What we promise to you — to be a fly on the wall — we are not there to be in yours or the staffs way, or to distract or to interrupt your experience… we are simply there to document your day, as it happens.  There are so many things that are easily and quickly forgotten about these special days, we believe that it is important to preserve these memories just as they happen.  What we need from you — rights to your images and your video — in order to promote this new service, we need images and videos with which to share… we promise to use creative cropping, just as I have done in this video here  (and we can leave out the actual birth photos — my sister has given full permission to share, so they have been included in this video).  The last thing that I want to say is that I’m sure you’ll notice that we elected not to do touchup on Birth Sessions.  While we preform vigerous touchup on all of our portrait sessions, we feel that cleaning up skin and reducing body sizes would not accurately display the true events of the day… and these days are beautiful, so very beautiful, just as they are.

because. they. are. real. life.
[video type="vimeo" id="12755807" width="720" height="480"]

Interested expectant parents, please contact us with your due date and birth plan, so that we may see if we can accommodate you with a Birth Session… we can’t wait!