About.
Morgan Marie is based in Livermore, CA and works around the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a DONA Certified Birth Doula, a ProDoula Certified Postpartum and Infant Care Doula, and a professional photographer. She is kind-hearted, easy-going, and always willing to take the time to know her clients and serve them to the best of her ability.
Why did you choose doula work?
In 2018, I was working as an Au Pair in Italy when I stumbled upon a Ted Talk by Ina May Gaskin. The way she spoke about birth, and the culturally instilled fear surrounding it, got me fired up about how to positively impact the birthing world.
I was on a nursing path, but decided I wanted to do doula work instead. The relationship I was going to build with my clients was so exciting to me. The care I was going to give these women during their most vulnerable moments was an honor.
After becoming a birth doula and working with clients, I realized that anxiety, fear, and judgement did not stop after a baby was born. The experience of becoming a parent and bringing a child into this world reaches far beyond labor and delivery. I saw that postpartum mothers (and their families) need support, information, and encouragement just like birthing mothers do. With that, I became a certified postpartum doula so I could meet mothers where they are at and walk alongside them as they navigate parenthood.
Why do you take photographs?
As for my photography, I have been always loved to tell stories. And that is exactly what photographs are; stories.
I started photographing in 2013. Taking photographs was all I did every day. My camera never left my side. I explored various types of photography, but had a special knack for portraiture. By 2015, I was photographing professionally.
Photos are incredibly special because they capture a single, irreplaceable, moment in time forever. A moment that will never be forgotten and will be passed down from generation to generation in the form of an image. Our memories are fleeting and stories are forgotten, but a photograph can live on.
A good photograph can carry the emotions of that moment, the scents that danced in the air, the feelings that filled the room, all within itself. I photograph with these thoughts in mind, carefully documenting these irreplaceable moments with creativity. I capture the moments as they are, documentary-style, in an artistic way.