For Amanda Capello, photography has always been about motherhood. From an early age, she tagged along as her photographer mother captured weddings and portraits, and observed the development process in her photographer uncle’s darkroom. Capello’s first job was assisting her mother at weddings, carrying gear and rolling film. By high school, Amanda herself was photographing weddings.
While photography was always part of her life, Capello initially pursued a different career: teaching high school math. But photography drew her back when a teacher friend asked her to take her maternity portraits. Capello borrowed her mom’s trusty camera and fell in love with photography all over again. Soon she started her own business as a side hustle, photographing weddings and portraits just as her mom had.
With the births of her children, though, Capello focused more on maternity and babies. “A lot of my friends were having babies around the same time, so I was always around pregnant mothers and babies,” she says. “I was able to connect and relate with them.” She was enraptured by celebrating women’s bodies and the changes they underwent during pregnancy. Having her own children made her more comfortable handling infants during photo sessions.
“Newborn photography was the biggest learning curve out of all the things I’ve done in my career,” Capello says. “More than weddings, events, and portraits. I really studied it, and practiced on friends’ babies and my own babies, and eventually they became one of my favorites to photograph.”
Learning and mastering newborn photography led the Phoenix, Arizona-based Capello to create a comprehensive course on the topic. She notes that while she could find courses that taught bits and pieces of newborn photography, she wished there was one resource that covered it all. So, she created it herself. Her course covers all the elements of newborn photography: equipment, setups and lighting, techniques for soothing and settling the newborn, wrapping and posing the newborn, and posing for siblings and families.
Capello’s struggles with her own complicated pregnancies give her a unique affection for maternity and newborn photography.
“My experience with struggling to get pregnant and then almost losing my daughter at 34 weeks gave me a greater appreciation for life and all that women go through in pregnancy,” she says. “It helps me relate to many women’s stories and understand how magical life creation really is. Every woman’s journey is truly beautiful, whether it’s natural, IVF, or surrogacy. I love hearing their stories and being able to preserve such a special moment in time.”
A PERSONAL TOUCH
Capello is devoted to making the entire portrait process a celebration of her clients, leaving them feeling strong and empowered. The client experience begins well in advance of the session. When a client inquires, Capello calls them or sends a text, which starts the relationship off with a personal touch. She then sends a detailed client guide that lays out her process and offerings, including products and pricing.
She works closely with each client to develop a vision for the session, including locations, looks, and wardrobe. The studio offers an extensive wardrobe closet, filled with hundreds of choices for maternity sessions, newborns, babies, and children, and clients can choose from a full catalog of wardrobe options for their session, or bring their own wardrobe. Sessions take place at her well-appointed studio or nearby.
For sessions on location, Capello takes advantage of the wide range of scenery in her area. “Arizona is awesome because you drive 30 to 90 minutes and you could be someplace completely different,” she says. “There are cactuses and boulders and palm trees, and even snow. You don’t have to go far to be in a totally different environment.” One favorite spot is Sedona, with its beautiful red rocks and spectacular scenery.
Newborn sessions create unique challenges, so Capello offers her clients tips on how to prepare the baby before the session even starts. Even with the best preparation, though, sessions must move at the baby’s pace. Each session starts with a plan, but Capello is always ready to go with the flow depending on the baby’s mood.
Capello’s photographs are natural and timeless with a monochromatic style, yet she offers a variety of looks. She loves being able to bring diversity into her photography: sometimes using natural light, and sometimes using studio lighting, ranging from high-key looks to dramatic lighting. She often creates high-key images both in the studio and on location, using the sun to show how bright light mirrors the happy, joyous emotions of motherhood. “I’m a crazy scientist in the studio,” she says. “I’m just always playing and seeing what I can come up with. That’s what’s fun about it for me.”
Capello builds authentic relationships with her clients and offers outstanding customer service, which keeps clients coming back even after their maternity and newborn sessions. One service she offers is photographing the child throughout their first year, capturing their growth and milestones such as sitting up, crawling, and walking. At the end of the year, she creates personalized heirloom albums of the baby’s first year of life. “It’s so cool to be able to take that journey with them and capture the baby through the year, and again when they have another child, and then every year after for more family sessions.”
PHOTOGRAPHY’S POWER
There’s often a transformation that happens during a portrait session, and it’s what energizes Capello. “It’s so rewarding,” she says. “Sometimes women will come in and they’ll feel different about themselves, and I get to show them they’re beautiful. I love when a client leaves saying how glad she is that she did this, and how it made her feel great about herself.”
During each session, Capello makes a point of showing sneak peeks in camera while they work; meanwhile her assistant records clients’ reactions. “I chase that feeling of making people happy and showing people how I see them,” she says. “The magic for me is having people leave feeling empowered and beautiful.”
One of her most memorable sessions was with a client who had just had a mastectomy due to breast cancer while she was pregnant. During the newborn session, Capello captured her with her naked newborn lying on her chest, showing the mastectomy scar. “It’s such a powerful image. She was so strong and still providing for her baby.”
FAMILY FIRST
Work-life balance is an issue for many, and Capello has been able to shift her business practices to meet the demands of being a working mother. “A lot of the reason why I went into teaching is because I had always pictured myself working the same schedule as my children,” she says. “I wanted to work while they were in school and then we’d be off together on breaks and summer. So, when I decided to do photography full time and not go back to teaching, I promised myself I would keep that mentality of being a mom first.”
The heat of Phoenix summers and her children’s summer break from school also correspond to the slow season for photography. Capello notes that some people even leave Phoenix during that season, and women may even time their pregnancies to avoid the heat. Summer, then, allows more time with her family. But even during the slow season, Capello notes, she does not get complacent. “I’ve been blessed that my business has been strong and steady, but I’m always working on improving my client experience, my marketing efforts,” she says. “There is always something to work on.”
Meanwhile, the maternal legacy of a photography career might just continue into the third generation. Capello’s 10-year-old daughter is already eager to become an assistant, Capello says, and especially loves babies. Capello thinks back to the days she begged her mother to let her help with photo sessions and looks forward to bringing her own daughter into the photography fold. “She’s still young,” she says, “but I’ll know when it’s time.”
Janet Howard is a photographer, author, and coach based in Atlanta.
