When a Photographer Needs a Photographer

Photos by Heidi Lynne Photography

The day I found out I was pregnant my husband learned he would deploy to Afghanistan for a year. How’s that for timing? I should also mention it was the day before Thanksgiving. My husband left for training the beginning of April, deployed mid-May and our daughter was born in July. She was nearly six months old when he came home for R&R and met her for the first time. That was a year ago today.

If there was a silver lining in his deployment it was that I didn’t have anyone with me in the hospital taking those awful delivery room photos. Call me vain but I’m not one to trot out a bunch of photos of myself looking like a train wreck, so I was perfectly happy not to have any.

Ah, but the day my husband came home to meet our daughter was different. I wanted photos to cherish, photos to one day give our daughter. As an added bonus I looked good, or at least not like a train wreck.

I also know my limits as a photographer and had more sense than to try to take the photos myself. Holding a baby and a heavy camera is unwieldy. Throw in hugs and tears and, well, forget about it. So, I hired a photographer. It was one of my best ideas, ever.

Heidi Lynne Lewis of Heidi Lynne Photography is a gifted photographer based in my hometown of State College, Pennsylvania. She captured the day beautifully, exactly as I remember it. I’ve posted some of her photos here. You can see more of Heidi’s work on her website www.heidilynnephotography.com.

Photos by Heidi Lynne Photography