This Photographer Captured 33 Women Before And After Becoming Mothers

September 18, 2020

Being a mother is one of the hardest and most stressful jobs out there, so it’s no wonder becoming one can change you both physically and psychologically. To highlight this change, Lithuanian photographer Vaida Razmislavičė has created a project titled “Becoming A Mother” where she photographed women before and after becoming mothers.

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Image source: Vaida Markevičiūtė

“Motherhood is a deep experience, filled with joy, pain, exhaustion, and love,” says the photographer. “When a woman becomes a mom, she really feels her inner energy; her intuition becomes stronger, and her wisdom reaches new heights.” Vaida herself is a mother and says her idea of motherhood was very different before actually having a child. “To be honest, I didn’t feel the motherhood instinct when I first took him into my arms. I’ve learned everything along the way, including ignoring old know-it-all’s and growing the courage to trust my own decisions,” says the photographer.

Image source: Vaida Markevičiūtė

Vaida came up with the idea for the project after meeting some people who saw newborns as an obstacle to the parents. She wanted to show that it’s possible to continue living in harmony even after having a baby.

“In a way, with this project, I ended up healing myself. Looking directly into these women’s eyes, I relived giving birth to my first son. All of the traumas and fears that I locked somewhere inside myself came back, only to vanish in the process,” opened up the photographer. “I realized the journey I’ve been on as a mother. The fruits that I’m reaping today now that my boys are almost all grown up.”

Image source: Vaida Markevičiūtė

At first, the photographer hesitated whether to make the project public. “I would turn on these photos every day, however, it felt like it wasn’t the right time. It was as if the series was waiting for its own birth. I had to stop criticizing myself over it,” said Vaida. “This period was a lot like the time when you’re waiting for someone to be born. And it was over the same way, too: you can’t control it, you just have to let go and believe that it will happen when it needs to.”

Image source: Vaida Markevičiūtė

Image source: Vaida Markevičiūtė The photographer received some criticism after releasing the project with many people saying there was too much post-production. “At first, I was worried about the lighting. I took the before and after photos in different studios (I used whatever spaces I could get) and even though I could’ve faked the first batch of portraits, I didn’t want to do it,” tried explaining herself the photographer. “For this project, I used only natural lighting and because of my lack of experience, I forgot that the angle of sunlight in summer and winter are different. Also, things like reflections and the number of windows came into play. I retouched only very little details in post-production, though. Now, if I could do it all over again, I’d use artificial lighting, trying to maintain the same conditions for every shoot.”

Check out Vaida’s photographs of women before and after becoming mothers in the gallery below!