Feature Friday - Honey Brown Photography
Parents love to document the sweet moments of our kids over the years so we can always treasure the memories. Jenny has used Lauren Fallon, owner of Honey Brown Photography, to document some of those moments for her family. Read on to learn more about Lauren, her journey, and her small business!
It’s so hard to remember life before kids. On the one hand I feel like everything in my world is different. On the other hand, I really strive to keep what’s important to me and makes me “ME” alive in my life even with kids. Before kids, I worked at Starbucks while I was finishing up my internship at a local high school so that I could be a school social worker. Then I got my first school social work job that was an hour away but I wanted my first job so bad that I took it. I played soccer 4 nights a week, I went to the gym, I laid around after my Sunday morning soccer game watching football on the couch or napping. I was a good napper before kids. I was just starting my photography career and trying to figure out if I could take photos for real for people. My husband and I went out on dates on a whim or threw together dinner parties at the last minute. We were a lot more spontaneous, that’s for sure.
I think that might be the biggest thing that changed since having kids. I have always been a type A plan maker. But I always left room for surprises or fun last minute things. I feel that that ability is gone a bit (maybe coming back a little more now that they’re older). My body has changed, I feel completely. I’m trying to get to know this new body and be kind to her. I still go to the gym, I still play soccer but I am a different kind of athlete now. My hips hurt constantly, my knees have arthritis. I don’t know if I can fully blame the kids for that but I do know that that’s when the changes started and haven’t stopped since.
The biggest change was how I viewed my career. The school social work career that I worked so hard for was draining me. I feel like having kids really made it hard to be able to work with sad kid stories on a daily basis. It was becoming harder to leave those stories at work and come home and be fully present with my family. I was also becoming a lot more busy in my photography career and I had to make hard decisions. I thought that I was going to be a school social worker for life. But then school social work wasn’t as fulfilling as I had imagined it would be and I wanted something different.
My kids have 100% inspired the trajectory of my photography career. Having kids makes me understand what families want and what they value when they hire me. I also breastfed both of my kids and it was one of the best experiences I have had as a mother. It made me really want to take pictures of that bond for others. I then realized that I was into all things “motherhood”. In 2017 I photographed my first birth and I was hooked. What an AMAZING experience! I have always been a photographer that prefers getting “real life” captures and being that “fly on the wall”. There’s no better “fly on the wall” experience than capturing someone’s birth. I still cry at every birth I’m at (I’ve done almost 20 now), I still become breathless, I still breathe with the mom as she pushes through those tough contractions. I love it so much. My kids made me really hone my skills into capturing everything from bump to birth and beyond for families. I like to think that my social work career is also nicely tied in there as well. I value relationships and feel like people who hire me want to keep me around because they feel a connection. I also specialize in helping mothers in my social work career; mothers who are not yet mothers (due to fertility issues, as I had fertility issues), mothers who are struggling with motherhood, and mothers who have lost their own identity after becoming mothers.
I would feel hypocritical if I didn’t take my own medicine in regards to what I tell both my photography mothers and my therapy mothers - and that is the message of balance. It’s the most important thing you can do for your own self care. Make sure you are a priority in your life so that you aren’t pulling from an empty cup. My cup gets filled by my photography business so I spend a lot of time working on that. When I go take pictures it doesn’t feel like work. When I edit photos I am so relaxed! It fills my cup 100% but it does take away time from my family so I am eternally grateful to everyone in my life for helping. That’s the other key to balance I believe…ask for help! I would not be able to do anything I do without asking for help. And being open to returning the favors I ask of others! I have a wonderful tribe and I am so grateful, words can’t even express. But I also took the time to make that tribe and continue to take the time to make it flourish. Soccer is also a major cup filler. It may sound silly that a 40+ year old women's soccer team is that important but it is. It gets me out of the house, it gives me 45 minutes of uninterrupted “not thinking” about anything else but soccer. It makes me feel so empowered to be able to still play and it will be part of my life until my body decides it can’t do it anymore.
I truly feel that if you can do these things for yourself, it is the definition of empowerment. Knowing yourself, knowing what makes you YOU with kids and without. Asking yourself what YOU want. And then making time to go after those things. Letting go of “shoulds” and going for things that bring you joy. Go to therapy if you don’t know what you want. Just take time for you and really go deep and listen to that inner part of you that maybe has been quiet for a long time. Let her out, she has the keys to empowerment and balance and joy. Also, as a photographer, I offer boudoir photography. I will do it for anyone but I angle it towards moms (of course). Boudoir is such an amazing way to take pride in what your body did, what it is now, and how gorgeous and sexy you still are. Don’t wait until “later” when you think you’ll be ready. Do it now. I promise, you won’t regret it.
Watching my kids grow into their own selves has been such a highlight for me as a mother. My kids are 10 and 7 right now and I beam with pride at who they are and watching them figure themselves out. After a lot of years of trying to help my oldest understand his feelings and talk about his feelings (much to his dismay and a lot of ignoring me), he asked to go on a walk with me on a day when he was feeling particularly upset. He talked about what was bothering him, he named his feelings, we did some problem solving together but mostly I just listened. At the end of the walk he said “you’re really good at this mommy. I love going on walks with you. It always makes me feel better.” I nearly melted right then and there. Highlight reel, for sure. All that hard work pays off, and the hard work can’t stop because he has so much more growing up to do.
To learn more about me and my photography you can follow me on Instagram (@honeybrown4). I mix in personal tidbits of my life as well as examples of my work. I want you to know who I am as a person and as a photographer. You can also go to my website www.honeybrownphotography.com to see my family work and www.chicagobirthphoto.com to see my birth work.
