{Selfless}

I had a contest a couple of months ago, I asked people to nominate a {very} deserving mama for a free newborn mini session (which I upgraded for her 😉 ). Hands down the most people nominated this amazing lady, Tashay, by a landslide.  There is no question in my mind why. Tashay had 2 gorgeous children, {S} and {K} and we have known them for years (I went to high school with Tashay!). When I had children we reconnected (and to say she was helpful is the understatement of the year). Tashay then gave her body to two mamas that needed help carrying a baby. She was a surrogate not once, but TWICE. Yes, had two children for other people! {Strong} doesn’t even cover it. I was privileged enough to actually be in the delivery rooms for both births, was incredible to say the least. To see her carry a baby for 9 months, and then hand that baby over to their mama & daddy with a smile on her face was amazing.  Being by her side was one of the proudest moments of my life.

Now it was her turn. She met an amazing man, {K}, and they had a gorgeous baby boy, {Kairo}! They are so blessed to have three gorgeous children with hearts of gold. They are sweet, compassionate, caring and incredible people and role models.

I was honored once again to photograph Tashay’s children ❤

Thank you for trusting me with your babies!

xoxo

{Black & White}

Let me start off by saying I {love} black and white photography. My favorite images are taken on film, that are converted to a deep, raw, matte black and white finish. That being said, it takes a lot for me to convert an image to black and white and for me to truly love it and feel it.  To make a photograph black and white I need to feel raw emotion, it is not just an image of a person, it is the feeling I get when I scroll through the images.

This family was different. I have never done so many black and whites and loved them so much! I always have a couple of them, and that being said I haven’t done a family session in quite some time since becoming a newborn specialist, but I was fulfilling a package and I’m so glad I got to see them again! I photographed Hudson at just a week old (AND 8 days…don’t ask lol) and now I get to photograph him again. I love it!

Here are ONLY the B&W images from there session that I thought I would share with you. Would love to hear your feedback!

xoxo

Ilyssa