Shutter Sisters

Not Afraid to Hope

By

We were sitting in a coffee shop talking about the upcoming birth of her second child, when I saw a sweet light start to fill her face.  Without giving it a second thought, I picked up my camera and started shooting.  Keep talking, I told her.  This is good.

We’ve been friends for so long, she didn’t mind, and I clicked my heart away until I got this shot–the moment in the conversation where she told me her heart’s deepest wish for this birth:  that this baby girl would be born in the water and gathered up immediately in her open arms.  Wouldn’t that be great?  she told me.

I leaned over to show her the shot in the little screen and watched her face brighten some more.  This is what you look like, I said, when you’re not afraid to hope.

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Do you have a photo that captures a conversation that you or the subject want to never forget?  Share your links and stories in the comments below.

Comments

  3. Wow. That is one gorgeous shot. 😀 I wish your friend just the kind of birth she hopes for – it sounds like a wonderful way to come into the world.

  6. What a beautiful mama. I wish I could take photos of friends and loved ones during conversations, seems so intimate. Maybe when I’m really comfortable behind the lens (not always trying to figure out the right exposure, moving knobs and such) my subjects will be too.

  11. http://flickr.com/photos/ridethewavesoflife/2286843255/sizes/l/in/set-72157603974258359/
    This photo was taken last Spring when we were talking about how how lives had become crazy busy and somewhat unmanageable. I was working at a job that was lucrative financially, but draining me in many ways. The kids were playing and Scott and I were talking about having me stay home and care for our 3 children. I was wavering, never wanting to put both feet in one place but liking me life to be spread out a bit. Could I really be home all the time?
    Claire, the youngest of our 3, climbed up on her Dad’s lap and they just looked at me. My camera on the coffee table, I just snapped this shot because looking at them together I suddenly had some confidence I could make the change. It was enough to just be, and the be with the children. Thsi time in our life will look like a snapshot when they are grown. It was enough to trust my husband with the task of making the money, for a while, I would be fine.

  12. She’s gorgeous. And that look of a mama full of baby. There is nothing like it. She glows from the inside out. I wanna be at that birth ….

  16. i love this photo! she really is so full of hope and it shows. i heart her freckles so much, too! she is beautiful!

    speaking of hope always makes me think of children. i am a teacher in baltimore city (on leave at the moment to take care of my one-year-old son). my students fill my heart with so much hope and love.

    my photo is the result of a conversation between one of my students and me. we were at our rented beach-house and we had been discussing our first day in the ocean. (my mom and i had taken my fourth-grade class to bethany beach for a week two summers ago). she had taken her braids out and her hair was free and soft. i asked her to keep talking and that i wanted to take her picture because she looked so beautiful and i wanted to capture her at the end of such a special day.
    she first gave me a silly face: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kookooface/189240636/in/set-72157594193581615/

    and then a few moments later, i got this, one of my favorite pictures i have ever taken: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kookooface/190209980/in/set-72157594193581615/

  21. my mother has had chronic fatigue for 17 years and has recently had an incredible recovery. this picture of her and my grammy (on her 80th birthday) was taken just after hiking up a cliff to a beautiful clearing and birch forest.

    her first hike after 17 years. talk about hope!

    her wide smile is something i never want to forget and our conversation about what possibilities her life now holds is one i hold dear and take inspiration from!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/missvivienne/2859935831/

  24. All these posts are so tender and sweet and I love the capture of the "mother to be" – the glow about her is very evident. Reading the question posed here made me think of one photo in particular – a moment my daughter and I shared crazy laughter and it was captured on film with her timer.

    http://spreadingwings08.blogspot.com/

    Thank you, Shutter Sisters, for always inspiring me.

  29. This story touched my heart and brought my mind immediately to my own photo that captured a moment I never want to forget: my own home waterbirth. Just before my daughter peacefully floated into the world, my husband kneeled next to the birth tub and we shared an intimate & powerful moment as she made her entrance. This is the picture that perfectly captured the raw beauty of birth. I fall in love all over whenever I see it.

    http://peaceiseverystep.blogspot.com/2007/10/birthday-boy.html

  32. I love this quote jen "this is what you look like when you are not afraid to hope" brilliant! And how magical that you were able to capture that moment.