Courtney & Brian | Palmer Park Adoption Portfolio Photos

Courtney & Brian  | Palmer Park Adoption Portfolio Photos

colorado springs, co

In June, I got an email with a subject line that intrigued me: "Adoption Portfolio Photos."

Adoption has always been dear to my heart. Some of our closest friends have two kids they've adopted from Kenya. For three birthdays in a row (9-12 years old) I asked friends to make donations to support an adoption organization instead of bringing gifts, because it made me cry thinking about kids who are in immensely difficult situations and don't know if they're loved. When my husband and I started dating, this was one of the first things I brought up: someday, I want to adopt. I don't know when or what that looks like, but I wanted to know if he was on board (spoiler: he was and we're married and still talk frequently about timing). Now that we are walking through infertility, we wonder if perhaps this is something the Lord might be calling us to sooner than we expected. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know my heart has (and has always had) a very soft spot for both the ministry of adoption and all the parties involved.

So this email grabbed my attention right away. I'd never met Courtney, but she found my site and decided to send me an email. She and her husband are in the midst of the adoption process and asked if I would take photos for their adoption portfolio. Although this is an entirely "new" genre of photography for me, it was an instant and easy yes for me.

From the get-go, Courtney knew exactly what she wanted. She and her husband sadly walked through several pregnancy losses in a row, and it was very important to her to incorporate each of her baby's lives in these photos. We represented this sacred part of their story through four white balloons. She also had her husband bring the rocking chair he had as a child, along with a onesie they've been holding on to throughout the entirety of their marriage that says "For this child we have prayed." Lastly, they also wanted to use a few of these photos to make a formal announcement to their loved ones that they were pursuing adoption to grow their family, so she brought a letter board with the exciting news spelled out on it.

Why Adoption Portfolio Photos Matter

Although this was my first time taking photos for an adoption portfolio, in talking with Courtney it wasn't hard to see why these types of photos matter so much.  Although there are those families who have always desired to pursue adoption (sort of like myself), many times couples come to adoption through a long and painful struggle of attempting to grow their families (a struggle which, ironically, I also can relate to). Children are never guaranteed or promised to us, and yet it's a desire that runs so deep in many of our hearts and can cause such heartache when it remains unfulfilled.

All of that to say, for those pursuing adoption, it's often a very significant step in what has been a long, arduous, and often painful journey. Capturing the significance of the new season of waiting you are entering into as an adoptive couple matters, not only as a way to honor your story up to this point, but also as a way of celebrating the hope of what is still to come.

Apart from that, there's the very practical reality that adoption portfolio photos are used by birth mothers to help them begin narrowing down prospective adoptive families for their child (or children). These photos often serve as the "first impression" you are able to make with the birth family, so making sure the photos depict your family as honestly and authentically as possible matters deeply. It's a way to begin telling your story, making connections with the birth family, and discerning whether or not you could be the right fit for the child in question.

There's obviously so much more that goes into a decision like adoption, but it's also undeniable that your portfolio photos make a difference, not only in the process itself but also in your own processing as you start this journey.

Adoption is a journey, and often a long one, for all parties involved. It's one of the most substantial decisions a family ever makes, and it changes a family dynamic forever. I've heard it said that adoption is like a birth, wedding, and a funeral all at once: a birth in that there is a new child, a wedding in that two families are now bound together for all of time by that child, and a funeral in that one family is having to say goodbye to their child in many ways as that child starts life in a new family.  We commemorate births, weddings, and funerals with photos: why wouldn't we do the same for adoption, which is just as substantial as any of these other major life events?