Newborn and infant sessions are special to me because I know how tired and frayed new parents are. Remembering how the first year felt for me, I want to shower new parents with my time and attention. My hope is to leave them feeling a little more celebrated.

These long days and sleepless nights chasing an infant’s endless needs aren’t forever. One day, these incredible parents will be where I am—wondering where the years went. When that day comes, I’ll be there for them, too. When they need a reminder of how it felt at the beginning, how small their child was, and how big their love was (and still is)…they only have to hit play. The tenderness, the love, the frustration, the joy, the exhaustion, the exhilaration…it will all come flooding back, because video is this time machine where the past plays out in the present.

My oldest graduates high school in a few weeks. I have been hungrily watching video clips of her as a baby while secretly preparing to edit a love letter film. All I have are clips. Short suspended moments that are shaky, grainy, off-color, hard to hear—and never long enough. There’s no story arc…no soundtrack…no ME. I’m not in the video clips with her…or, if I am, Dave isn’t. None of my clips include us together. None are sequential. None tell a fuller story.

Ask me what I’d pay to have a film like this of my Brenna, and I’ll tell you why I do what I do. I swim into your stream and bottle up your day for a time when you want it back. Because you only miss the water when the river runs dry…and I can tell you what the longing feels like.

I’ve channeled my longing into my art so you never have to feel the double loss of launching kids and lost memories…but I can only lead you to water.