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Lining up a portrait photographer for pics of a newborn are par for the course for new parents. Sadly, not all parents are able to turn their attention to setting up a photo shoot. Hence why portrait photographer Jessica Strom donates her time to families who have babies staying in the Kansas City Metro area's NICUs, so, as she says, "They too can have professional portraits of their tiny ones even in the hospital, completely free of charge."
In turn, she's doing something that in Hebrew we'd call a mitzvah -- a worthy deed -- for these parents who have their hands so full that hiring a photog is the last thing on their minds.
As Strom puts it on her Vimeo page:
Things don't go as planned, and all too often, parents miss out on getting their child's newborn pictures taken simply because they're too busy making sure their child lives through another day.
So true ... and heartwrenching to think that these parents shouldn't have the very same beautiful opportunity as other parents. Especially considering the amount of stress they're coping with.
Strom began photographing babies in a hospital NICU while volunteering with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a nonprofit that takes portraits of babies in hospice. She fell in love with doing it, and the rest is history.
For a beautiful, tearjerking, heartstrings-pulling glimpse at Strom's work, check out her video entitled "Welcome to the NICU":
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Amazing.
And I love how Strom explains why she does what she does to HuffPost, which pretty much sums it all up:
These babies are so incredibly precious and inspiring, what they have to put up with would make any grown person miserable. Documenting that, no matter how scary it feels in the moment, is something the parents tell me they treasure forever.
What do you think about Strom's work?
Image via Jessica Strom/VIMEO
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
