Aly Elliot is a mother of six and a portrait photographer. When she lost one of her children due to stillbirth, she found healing through her photography. She finds joy in capturing candid photos of children, which brings life to family portraits.
“I want every single one of my clients who go away with photography to have something that encompasses who they are when they came here to see me — something that puts them back to when their newborn was a week old or when their teenager was graduating high school," she says. She enjoys playing a "little part in preserving who they are right now.”
Video Transcript
Aly Elliott is Portrait Photographer and a mother of six. The video opens up with her taking photos of a mother and her two children.
Aly: I don't think that without my kids I would be the photographer, the artist, the businesswoman that I am because I'm doing it for them.
Aly talking to one of the children: Hi. Are you helping Mama?
I'm Aly Elliott. I am a mother to six. I am a long-time professional photographer and I shoot everything from maternity to newborn to family.
Aly talks to the children as she takes photographs.
I'm going to have her go on the other side and hug. Can you give big sister a hug?
So kids have a way of just taking what you've set and twisting it up a little bit and making it better. And I have learned over the years of motherhood and photography to let it go and let them tell their story.
She gives directions to a child: Lean over on Charlie.
There's one in particular of this little guy. We had him in little suspenders and a fancy little bow tie. And I don't know what happened — he just got disheveled and buttons started popping, his shirt came out. And it is one of my favorite pictures of all time. There's so much more life in it than if he had just sat down and shown his teeth.
Our daughter, Keeley, was stillborn and she would be 14 actually on Sunday. She's a driving force in my work, and she's had a huge hand in my business, and she has made me able to adapt to a world that constantly surprises me. And I never take a moment for granted. And that goes for the families that come to me. I don't take their time for granted either, because you don't know what tomorrow holds. I want every single one of my clients who go away with photography for me just to have something that encompasses who they are when they came here to see me, and something that puts them back to when their newborn was a week old or when their teenager was graduating high school — having that little part in preserving who they are right now. To be a part of that is incredible.
Aw.
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