Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep: Photographing The Precious Life Of the Unborn

You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.  

Today I am heading over to the hospital to photograph a precious family and their 20wk old child.  The doctors told the mother (who was a model that I photographed) and father that their child died in the womb and that they were going to induce labor tonight.  I photographed their first child a few days after his birth and I am sad that I am going to have to make a trip for the purpose of photographing a child so that he can be properly remembered by his siblings,  parents, and future generations. Someone asked me why I would photograph a child that has died.  I couldn’t say it any better than the NILMDTS website:

This is the place where the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart. For families overcome by grief and pain, the idea of photographing their baby may not immediately occur to them. Offering gentle and beautiful photography services in a compassionate and sensitive manner is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives.

The fact of the matter is that all too often the child that was created and pass away so quickly is only remembered by a piece of paper from the hospital and the fleeting memories of the parents and children.  After one generation the story of the life that was created is so easily forgotten.  However, photographing the child with the parents allows the family to include those photos in family albums for future generations to remember.  Just as a family wants to preserve the stories of a family member who grew up to be an adult so should the family remember a child that happen to pass away a whole lot sooner.

I am looking forward to helping this family preserve the memory of their lives.