Article Contributed on: 1/14/2009 4:48:09 PM
With her two small children growing before her eyes,
Amanda Jerome, like any mom, wants to capture as many moments and milestones as she can.
"Kids change so fast," Jerome says.
But after going to local photography studios, standing in long lines with cranky kids and having to shell out big bucks for photos that were just ok, she was fed up with the process.
"There is so much pressure, and you come away with the same three poses," she says.
Sitting at her kitchen table at her home in Lakewood with her kids
Shelby, 3, and
Jesse, 2, by her side, Jerome flips open a photo album to reveal a black-and-white shot of Jesse at 6 months old.
"Daddy!" Jesse squeals, pointing to a photo of him and his dad, also named
Jesse, who is a local paramedic.
Another photo in the album has Shelby wearing fairy wings, smiling angelically, and another shows a plump baby Jesse gazing in wonder at bubbles.
"I can't believe he was ever so tiny," Jerome says fondly of Jesse, who was only 5 pounds at birth. "You look back at the photos and you say, gosh, they really were so little."
These photos are Jerome's favorite of her kids -- and she happened to snap them herself.
Jerome became interested in photography during a Survival for New Moms class at Lutheran Hospital. A photographer came in and showed Jerome and the other moms techniques for taking their own photos.
"One day, on a whim, I decided to give it a try," she says. "And I ended up with the most incredible pictures."
She found that just letting moments happen, as opposed to forcing them, captured her children naturally. The experience prompted Jerome to start her own photography business.
"I'm just getting my feet wet," she says. So far, her clients have mostly been other moms and friends, but she's hoping to expand.
"My kids are at the age now where it's time to do something for me," Jerome says.
Her studio is simple: A white sheet draped over the couch, positioned in front of a sliding door to allow plenty of natural light to stream through.
Her goal, she says, is to take away everything she dislikes about the studio experience --the copyrights on all the pictures, the forced, cheesy smiles, the pressure to make the "perfect" photo--and instead, offer parents a relaxed environment where pictures can just happen.
"I tell the parents to just play with their kids, tickle them, be natural, to do whatever they like to do a home," Jerome says. "You don't have to smile."
Jerome turns to pull out one of her favorite photography props, and her kids shriek with delight.
"Bubbles," Jerome says with a smile.
"My biggest goal is not necessarily to make money, but even to just have people learn to do it themselves," she says. "
There is no reason to have to pay a lot of money. Everyone should be able to have nice pictures of their kids."
As a stay-at-home mom, it can be tough to fit time for her business between trips to the park, errands, piles of laundry and running after two high-energy kids, Jerome says.
"It's a balancing act," she says. "But I enjoy (being a stay at home mom). I'm so close with my kids."