Today we’d like to introduce you to Leona Darnell.
Hi Leona, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Do people care about one’s story? The muck and mire one must crawl through in order to gain some measure of success in their chosen field. Maybe. Maybe not. Yet here I am and I will give you the Reader’s Digest version in hopes that it might give the next person a reason to continue their quest in the arts. The ARTS. That’s a phrase people don’t always take seriously. I mean, it’s not a doctor, a lawyer, a biophysicist, or rocket scientist. You know, those “real jobs”. I mean, heck The Arts are just hobbies, right? Oftentimes, I tell people “I am a photographer”. I get “oh yea? Cool. I take pictures too. What else do you do?” Umm, that’s it dude. That’s what I do.
I am a photographer. Now that phrase was hard to say out loud and believe it for quite a while. I am not sure why. Perhaps it was my self-worth–or lack thereof. Perhaps it was the feeling people wouldn’t take me seriously. I am not sure why. It has only been recently (within the last year or so) that when I say it, I believe it. Not only am I a photographer, I am a Birth Photographer. I say that with full confidence and stand behind every picture-dare I say-every piece of Art I make.
It wasn’t always that way. I picked up a camera because a friend from my past was taking some online classes. This was in the 90s and while I was college educated, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was adrift in the “I should do this”, “I ought to do that”, “my family wants me to be a _____”.Oh hum. She did wonderful landscapes and I thought, huh-I can do that. Turns out, I could not! Meh, I didn’t want to take nature pictures anyways.
I lived in the bohemian city of San Francisco. I traveled the world working for United Airlines and just really lived my best life. I took some photography classes at the Academy of Art where I developed my love for the darkroom and discovered my sense of wonder “making art”. I dabbled in the wedding industry but really couldn’t take the boredom of those long receptions. I tried pets and discovered I really hated wrangling Aunt Junie’s fat basset hound. I tried a few other genres but found them unfulfilling. How could I love an art form, but find what I photograph so completely dull? What I produced, I felt anyone could produce. I thought of myself not only as a fraud but a talentless wannabe to boot??!
That is until I discovered Birth Photography. It was that “come to Jesus” moment people talk about. All the alarms went off in my head “This is it! This is it! Pay attention”. And it was it. I discovered what I was really meant to do. As sappy and saccharine as it may sound, that’s the truth. I found it. I found what I loved. But was I any good at it? Not so great at first.
Now, several years after my first birth, I have found my rhythm. I found my voice. I have found my art. I have found the self-worth to call myself a photographer with pride.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been smooth, but that is due to my own inner crazy. As I mentioned before, I have always had a self-worth issue. I still struggle with it from time to time, but it really held me back from the life I have always wanted.
I went through the whole self-help isle at Borders (boy, that dated me!!). I listened to all the podcasts on believing in yourself-charge your worth-yada yada. I don’t know when things changed, but I guess when people kept coming to me and hiring me. They really like me!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Well, I talk birth. Birth preferences, birth doula, birth photography, birth videography. I absolutely love all things birth. Yes, it is unpredictable. Yes, babies come at all hours of the day. Yes, it is a “hurry up and wait” game. But I love it.
Once adding labor doula to my arsenal (certified in 2021), I exploded with happiness. I love helping these families navigate what birth is, w\ how labor progresses, explaining things when they don’t understand what alternatives are available when it comes to labor, pain management, and the actual birth.
I feel adding this service to birth photography has been a game changer-not just monetarily, but spiritually.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I feel birth photography will continue to become more and more mainstream. Doctors and nurses are getting used to seeing us in the birth space. Midwives are seeing us more and more at homebirths and birth centers. I think more and more people will add labor doula and/or postpartum doula and birth education to their services. I am currently going through postpartum classes. The end goal, for me, is to become a birth educator.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.birthandbeauty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birth_and_beauty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birthandbeauty/
Image Credits
Birth and Beauty
