Seattle Maternity Photography - August Mother of the Month
My Seattle maternity photography started in 2001 officially. And I have always been intrigued with the wonderful shapes of the 2000 pregnant mothers I have met. Serena came into my Seattle studio for her maternity photography and she was special. She had survived breast cancer. I knew she was going to be our Mother of the Month.
1. Tell me a little bit about yourself, Sean, how you met. How you decided to have kids, what are your hobbies, what you do in your free time, etc.
We met in Maui, Hawaii through a mutual friend. All of us worked on the ocean. I was diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half into dating and had to go through the whole shebang: surgery, chemo, radiation, adjuvant therapy (medication). We weren't even engaged yet but this whole experience solidified what we already knew: that we would be together for the long haul! We got engaged on the last day of what we called my "icky gross no fun part of chemo" (the part where I miss out on eating good food like raw fish and eggs!). We married a year later and then decided to leave Maui for the PNW! After a few months here we thought we would check with the docs on options for our future and family. Then we just got to the point of let's try now to get pregnant because the prospects might just get worse over time. And it happened to work out: we got pregnant! :) We are ocean lovers, have two big dogs and are pretty low-key, spending a lot of time at home gardening and on projects or hanging out with family.
2. Tell me about why you decided to have maternity photography, and why you trusted me to take these special photos.
We wanted to document the juxtaposition of our situation: the difficult time of cancer in the scars and radiation tattoos I had (and Sean too: he has skin cancer scars) against the amazing miracle of being successfully pregnant after being told it might not happen for us. It's these horrible life-ending diseases of cancer versus the miracle of life. It also reflects our opposite natures as Sean is often perceived as a bad boy with all of his tattoos and I am an innocent rule-follower with few tattoos yet we work well together! We fit together like a puzzle.
3. Please feel free to include anything else you like that is interesting about you or your parenting philosophy.
I am interested in letting my child develop as he/she is meant to without us as parents pushing any agenda or ideals on him or her; encouraging self-exploration and a sense of independence. We've had to overcome a lot of major life ordeals in our 6 years as a couple and we hope to encourage and cultivate strength, tenacity, stability, and perseverance in our little one!
To read more Mother of theMonths and see their selected photographs please visit here: