Before Anderson

story sessiondoccumentarymaternityin-home dog session

Dec 12

Denise, Matt, Bruno + Gracie
In-home Documentary Session

Denise and Matt didn’t really expect to have kids — their dogs were their kids. And then they got pregnant… with a human child. Of course there was a swirly fun mix of emotions, but one of those emotions was mourning the life they had with just them and their pups. Ok, maybe MOURNING isn’t the exact right word… but they loved Gracie + Bruno so so much, they wanted to do something special to honor and bottle up the time before Anderson arrived, so Denise and I discussed doing an in-home documentary session to capture everything they loved about this time in their lives, and she also wanted some wall art for above their kitchen table. In my mind, I kind of saw it as a maternity session, but not so much just focused on the belly or the woman, but the entire life Denise and Matt were living that was about to change in a big way.

We had to reschedule this session multiple times—I almost thought it might not happen “before Anderson.” They had some remodeling that kept getting pushed back, I got Covid… but finally… FINALLY we got to spend some time together in their home (and the remodeling was well worth the wait!). When I walked in, Matt said he was nervous,. “What do we do? We don’t really do anything exciting.” He was worried what they do in their every day wouldn’t make for good photos. I reassured him that even if all they normally do was absolutely nothing—they would love the final images, because these photos capture their life as it is today.

We hung out for a couple of hours, had a fantastic session, and I fell in love with Gracie and Bruno and their sweet, goofy personalities. Their little tongues always sticking out when they sleep and their complete adoration for Denise and Matt and vice versa.

I know Denise and Matt were super nervous about meeting Anderson and worried about being parents to a little two-legged, as all new parents generally are. But seeing the amount of love they had for Gracie + Bruno and the sweet excitement in Matt’s eyes when he “chatted” with Anderson in the belly… I knew they would make the best parents. They already are.