Your Motherhood Story
Pregnancy, breastfeeing, matrescence and growing together
You are here to create your most unique motherhood story and I am beyond excited for you.
Have you ever wondered how a photoshoot can change your life? This is excactly what happened to me, when I first did a self-portrait session with my newborn son. I sure looked at myself every day, but I saw myself for the first time then.
My goal is to create a transformative experience that will leave you with not only the most precious artefacts and memories, but a deep connection and confidence to your new self.
Hello there! I'm Alina!
One of a kind motherhood and breastfeeding photographer
It means the world that you are here, reading this and looking at my works. I warmly welcome you here and am hoping to speak with you soon. I am a mother myself, living in SE London with my son and husband.
My journey as a photographer started in my childhood, with my father - a photographer as well, being my first teacher, inspiration, and role model. However, I was born as a photographer when I became a mother, and my art was born out of a very personal struggle. Learning how to navigate motherhood, identity shift, and body-image issues, I turned to my camera, which gave me a whole new life. Once a part of my life, photography became a gift that I can extend to others. I do this because that is my way of being a part of something bigger and better than myself, of capturing someone's happiest moments and preserving their precious memories.
I love deep conversations and always will choose genuine connection over small talk. I hate compromises and seek to find the way for you to get exactly what you want on your own terms, because that's what I strive for for my family and friends and for myself.
My first self portraits with my son
How I Started with Motherhood Photography
My work encompasses the views of motherhood in the UK, the stories of mothers, and the mother's point of view. When I became a mother, I found myself in a dark and lonely place. In a foreign country, without friends or family, I had to figure out how to keep a little human alive and also how to be the new person I was. My body was different, my identity changed, and my whole worldview was new. I felt like the earth was moving underneath my feet and there was nothing that I was certain about. Internet and parenting books overwhelmed me, my body felt painful and completely foreign to me, I felt like I lost myself and would never find my center again. Then, when my son was 5 months old, I took some self portraits with him, capturing my changed body and our bond. Coincidentally, he decided that he wanted to nurse, so I ended up taking photos of breastfeeding as well, in a dark and moody way, but perfectly capturing the painful relationship I had with that. Seeing myself like that, my connection with my baby, my aching body, its parts that I considered ugly and unlovable, suddenly allowed me to see the beauty in it all. Motherhood photography was my way to healing, finding myself, and also connecting with many other mothers and telling their stories.
Over the past three years, my motherhood works have been published in Photo Vogue, exhibited at the London Photo Show at the OXO Tower, selected and published by the British Journal of Photography in their Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6, and seen in Dehazed and Iconic Magazines.
What Mothers Say:
Prepare for Something Different
The kind of photoshoot you get from me, you will never get anywhere else. That is because I have my very own way of doing absolutely everything. We can experiment with the location, lighting, clothes (and the absence of thereof, which is not a requirement!), textiles, props and everything else. What is required from you is simply to relax and enjoy your time with your baby. You can breasfeed if you would like that captured, you can bottle feed instead or just practice skin-to-skin. You can simply play and have your little one nap on you if needed. My photography is about your connection, and I will never ask you to do anything you are not comfortable with. Yet, there is something to be said about slightly extending the intimate bubble you have with your baby to include me and my camera in it. I specially work with women who struggle with their body image after giving birth (as have I myself), and in those cases, my experience taught me that it can be therapeutic and cathartic to do something "out of character", embracing and even emphasising the changes. Yet again, this is 100% up to you. We will go with the flow at the speed you and your baby feel good with.
Motherhood, Baby & Connection
Whether you are booking me for a family, pregnancy, or intimate motherhood session, I will give you my all. I will come to your home or an agreed location and spend at least 1 hour with you, taking care of you and making you feel comfortable. I will guide you and help you with certain poses; however, my goal is always to capture raw natural emotions, to observe from the side, and to truly paint your unique connection and love. Most of my clients say they don't feel like they are in a photoshoot, but as if they are handing out with a friend or just having a relaxed stroll in the park. That's my goal: for everyone to have fun and stay relaxed, not only getting beautiful pictures at the end of the session but also creating beautiful memories in the moment of the photoshoot. I give you the gift of experience, of a fun and unforgettable exchange of energy and emotions, something that many generations to come will witness through my pictures because I have a unique view of the world and I love seeing love and capturing it for you forever.
A step-by-step guide to my process
Here is how everything works
I. Congrats! You want to capture your motherhood journey!
I am here to help you and answer any questions you may have. I usually like to schedule a quick call with you to go over what you have in mind. Your baby/child can join us of course. If a call is inconvenient, you can send me an email to hello@alinapullenphoto.com and I will answer your questions there.
II. We agree on the date and time
Once we agree on the date and time convenient for you, there is not much preparation needed. It's a good idea to pick neutral colours and have a few different fabrics to hand to try different things during the shoot. Please try to keep the date, but I understand if we have to move the shoot due to illnesses and other unforeseen circumstances to do with kids.
III. I come to you and capture you with your little one(s)!
Exciting day! I will arrive and we will begin when and how is convenient for you. If your baby happens to be napping we will wait as long as needed. I don't set a hard time limit, but it is best to keep the process of actually taking photos to up to one hour. Any more is usually a bit irritating for young children, and may be a bit tiring for you too. But I always am happy to take all the breaks and shoot around your baby's schedule/feeding/routine.
IV. I edit your pictures!
The unique thing about me as a photographer that you will get everything that I edit, which is around 150-300 photos per session. They will be all edited in my warm style with colour correction (which means I solely edit the colour, the light and crop photos for composition). I believe in natural beauty and do not use Photoshop at all to manupulate skin, shapes and proportions. With every session, I include a number of black and white versions of your photos (not every photo but my select favourites or pictures that would look better in black and white in my opinioin).
V. You receive your pictures!
The pictures will be delivered to you digitally in a beautiful and convenient online gallery. You can share the link to the gallery with your family and friends. You will have unlimited downloads on all photos in high resolution without any watermarks. Yes, you heard me! You don't need to choose any photos to download, you get to keep everything, forever.
VI. You make a decision about the use of the photos
I am different from most photographers as motherhood photography is my way of making an impact and leaving my mark on the world. I regularly submit my works to Photo Vogue (see here and here), publications such as British Journal oh Photography, Grants and various competitions with international exhibitions and providers, so it is invaluable for me to be able to present my work publically. I also use my works in my portfolio, on my website and on Instagram and Facebook as an artist. While doing so, I never share any details such as personal information of my clients. What does this mean for you? You will have a choice, if you allow me to use the photos for these purposes, you get a flat £150 discount before you book. If you want to decide after the shoot, you will be charged the price minus the £150 fee, and then you can pay the rest of the £150 fee if you decide to revoke the usage rights for the photos. I will then delete your pictures from my archives and not use them at all.
VII. Order your prints
With every session, my clients will get a voucher for 10 prints in from the professional printer (not a high street one) that is connected to your gallery. You and your family can order prints, frames and other products. If you would like an album, let me know and I will walk you through the process of me creating one for you.
"I was struck by the openness and honesty that Alina Pullen is presenting in this work. And to me, that is something that is not only invaluable to her creative process as an artist but also to her audience. No scene in this selection, in my opinion, has the uniformly “classic” sense of beauty. And in my mind, that is what makes the work resonant. "- Lens Culture Review
What's the result? See for yourself:
Do I really need a full blown photoshoot? I'm sure just a couple of photos will be enough.
Think of this as documenting the most precious moments with your little ones, that kind that you don't usually even notice happening. I am an external observer, someone who has a lifetime of experience in art and photography, there to tell a story of one day in life of you and your baby. What I produce is art, and I am not ashamed to call it that. Motherhood and matrescence are incredibly overlooked topics in every day life, society, politics, and art, so with every picture, we (you and I) are able to change that and fight the underrepresentation of mothers in imagery and the arts. I give you a lot of pictures from a session not because I am upselling my work, but because I believe that it is cruel to make you choose which pictures to keep and which to get rid of. Every picture with your piece of life and soul is precious. You get to keep them all, in a beautiful story in your gallery, forever. These pictures will have several life times as they will be passed on to the next generation.
