A calling born from my own story.
A creative career that led somewhere unexpected. A doula calling that changed everything. Now doing both photography and doula work on purpose.
Photo by Sarah Taylor Studios
Kristen’s story
My path to this work wasn't planned, it was felt.
I picked up my first camera at fifteen, shooting my world in black and white film. That spark grew into a long career in the photography industry, studying at Pratt Institute, then working behind the scenes as a creative producer and photo art director for brands like PayPal, WIRED, and Men's Journal. I've always been drawn to the beauty hiding in everyday moments.
But it was my own births that changed everything. The support of a doula during my children's arrivals, and a hard postpartum after my first, showed me what it truly means to feel held during life's most vulnerable transitions. I couldn't unfeel it. So I got certified, attended my first birth, and it was love at first birth. This work feeds my soul in a way nothing else has, and I'm building something here that I believe in.
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• BFA Photography, Pratt Institute 2002
• Certified Birth Doula Natural Resources San Francisco 2022
• Certified Postpartum Doula, Natural Resources San Francisco 2022
• AHA Heartsaver CPR/AED
Adult, Child, Infant Certified
Logan Medical Center 2024
“That’s how you know you have a gift - when you photograph a woman one week postpartum, feeling like a giant sweaty mess, and the biggest she’s ever been, and your photos make her feel the most beautiful she’s looked.”
-HALEYCommunity
Rooted in this valley.
I dedicate time beyond my client work to the mothers around me. As an active member of the Postpartum Resource Group, I facilitate their monthly peer support group, The Circle Whitefish, a space I wish had existed for me in my own early, raw postpartum days.
A little more about me
I'm a New York girl at heart. Born and raised just north of the city, I made my way to Brooklyn for college and eventually settled into the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where some of my favorite memories are of wandering the streets with my English Cocker Spaniel, Cody Emmett, my very first furry baby and the best adventure companion a girl could ask for.
The ocean has always been my sanctuary (I'm fairly certain I was a mermaid in a past life), and that love eventually led me to surfing, dragging my board through NYC subways until it finally took me and my pup out west to San Francisco.
There I met Brad, a graphic designer, and we built a life full of love, creativity and adventure. We married in a tiny hippy surf town, added our pup Oliver Cheddar to the family, and welcomed our son Harrison Lee and daughter Charlotte Moon, with an incredible doula by our side for both.
Eventually the mountains called. I traded in my longboard for a paddle board and followed Brad home to Montana. We haven't looked back. Making Whitefish our home, connecting with friends through our children's school, The Skola, through Big Mountain and the local birth community, has been a beautiful thing. We found our place. The Last Best Place.
“Every birth is a story worth telling. I'm here to nurture you through it and capture every moment worth remembering.”
Brand work
As a photo producer and art director, I've had the unique experience of shaping the visual identity of some of the world's most notable brands and publications, including PayPal, Cabin Porn, Strava, WIRED, and Men's Journal.
That same eye for storytelling and authenticity that drives my birth work lives in every brand project I take on.
