Capturing Milestones with Jessica Bridgewater Photography

Photo shoots can be stressful. When I was younger, I remember looking  at our family photos and thinking, “why does mom look so angry?”  Now, as a mom myself, I want to yell at my younger self: “because you kids made it impossible to get a decent picture – and she was so worried about you sneaking in bunny ears that she couldn’t focus on what she was looking at!”  I realized all of this a few years back when I saw my own family’s picture in which I’m the only one who looks crazy – pointing my finger and with my eyes bulging out of my head.

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Getting everything to play out perfectly in pictures just doesn’t reflect our real lives. Real life (with kids, at least) can include everything from fit-throwing to getting a big bump on their forehead the day before to a random nosebleed in the middle of the shoot (which happened to my son during our most recent photo shoot). Blood everywhere! We even have pictures with my boys holding licorice and French fries – anything to stop the tears!

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With all the stress we put on ourselves to capture the perfect photos of our children, one thing we don’t want to stress about is whether we chose the right photographer.

Nothing can be more calming to a busy, stressed-out mom than to know her photographer has things under control. That your crying newborn, your on-the-move crawler or your energetic toddler isn’t too much for her to handle. That out of what you see as a loud (bloody) mess, she can make something beautiful.

Jessica Bridgewater is gifted at doing just that.

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Jessica is a mother of 4 girls and knows all too well how fast the newborn stage can slip by – which is one reason why she is passionate about capturing the tiny details of their lips, eyelashes, baby fingers and feet, the peach fuzz covering their tiny heads and those special newborn expressions on their faces. She loves and specializes in newborn to 12 month portrait photography. The newborn sessions take place in her studio; everything is ready to go when parents arrive which maximizes her time with those often-unpredictable little ones! Jessica takes care of everything from undressing/redressing the baby to feeding the baby (with the parents’ permission), encouraging the parents to just sit back, relax and let her “babysit” for the next few hours of their day. (Now doesn’t that sound stress-free?!) She then goes to work with creative shots to help you remember and  cherish the newness and innocence of your littlest one.

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She also enjoys capturing the milestone ages of 4 months (when they are pushing up on their hands), 8 months (sitting), and 12 months (first birthday). Jessica did an awesome job with our 8-month-old! When I kept wanting to stress over him trying to crawl away during the shoot, she went with it and was able to secure the memory of his delight in crawling – his sweet little face enjoying the grass and the excitement of being mobile. As she shot photos of my three boys, it was rare to have them all smiling and looking at the camera – but looking through the images now, I’m so glad Jessica knew that genuine expressions will be way more memorable than forced smiles or poses.

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Recalling the stress of past photo shoots with my family, I was also happy that Jessica didn’t ever have a “well, that’s good enough” attitude. I assure you, you won’t get that with her shots OR her editing. She is devoted to getting shots that will make your heart happy … to see your baby looking adorable and sweet.

You can trust Jessica Bridgewater Photography as a talented and professional local photographer for the littlest members of your family. You will be pleased as you look through your album, your face of stress and anxiety replaced with joy and amazement as your children’s personality and charm shine through in every image. Even though the newborn stage won’t last forever, your precious pictures will last a lifetime.

Editor’s note: A Kansas City Moms Blog contributor received a photo shoot in exchange for this post; however, all opinions expressed in this post are her own.

Bridget
Bridget was the first of her six siblings to be born in Kansas City and she has lived here ever since. She met her husband when she was in the eighth grade; they have been married for five years and have two boys (Cooper is 4, Lewis is 2) with another boy on the way. Day-to-day life consists of being woken up face-to-face with someone asking for a cup of milk; picking up hockey gear around the house; trips to the park; laughing at her boys; attempting to catch up on laundry; and hearing lots of screaming and “I love you, momma”'s. Bridget loves to camp, lay on a hammock (often while pretending it's a ship being attacked by sharks), garden, picnic - basically all things outdoors with the exception of chiggers! Writing for a moms blog has been a top bucket list item and she is excited to be a contributor. She also writes at living with levins