Meet Sarah Jane Silvers Photography: High Fashion Maternity & Baby Portraiture

Sara Skiles, owner of Wichita Doula. Photo by Sarah Jane Silvers Photography

We love to bring you the best Wichita has to offer, and there are SO many great photographers here that it’s super hard to choose one when it comes time to document some of the most important moments in life. One of our favorites is Sarah Jane Silvers Photography, who somehow has the ability to take a random photo of something or someone and turn it into something that looks straight out of a magazine.

Who better to do something really unique with your maternity or baby photos?

Here’s the gritty details about Sarah Jane Silvers (we got real y’all)

Wichita Doula: What is your origin story as a photographer?

SJS: I was gifted a 35 mm Pentax camera when I was 16. Fell in love immediately. I was scared of what everyone would think, and never thought of going pro for fear of the criticism - and then I decided to do it for myself instead.

WD: Was it hard to start a business or did it just start happenin’? Was there anything about it that surprised you?

SJS: Starting anything is difficult when you feel the world will judge.

I had to take a break a month or two in because my competitiveness overtook me. I had to refocus on what I really wanted out of it and go with that. I discovered the community over competition mindset and ran from there.

Every day is a surprise. I'm always shocked people like my work and continue to book with me. I'm gratefully astonished at the beautiful souls I've met and friended so far and the magic we've created. Most of all I'm surprised I’m here. I sometimes feel like I'm not good enough but then I remember running around with my Pentax, dreaming of being the person that I am right now and I'm proud.

WD: What is your favorite thing about doing maternity shoots?

SJS: Capturing women in their fullest form. There's a lot of truth and beauty in a woman with child. It's a fleeting time and one that should be captured well and honestly.

WD: What should a mom/couple know about working with you? What should they expect from a session with you if they choose you as their photographer?

SJS: Well I'm highly adaptable. I tend to get a good sense of what my clients need from me as a photographer and so each experience is as unique as my clients.

WD: What’s the first step for a potential client to hire you? What’s the process?

SJS: Literally just get ahold of me. All we have to do is agree on a date, decide what type of session/session length and pay a deposit that goes towards the total cost of the session.

After the session I do a sneak peek in about a week as I begin to work through the gallery. In about a month the photos are fully processed, uploaded to a beautiful online gallery for digital download with photo release.

WD: You have been doing some work to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health, what advice or encouragement would you give to a fellow mom going through a perinatal mood disorder?

Thank you for bringing this up! My clients may not know, but I work full time as an occupational therapy assistant and the foundation of our practice is mental health. Naturally that carries over into my personal life. I would start by giving the same advice I give to my OTA clients: education. Knowing the signs/symptoms and working to educate others is the biggest thing any of us can do. I've had friends and family who got up to check on their infants hundreds (yes hundreds) of times a night without recognizing it as a symptom of postpartum mood disorders. Education can only go so far without resources however, so know who you can go to. Whether it be someone close to you emotionally or someone anonymous, reach out and accept help even if you feel (like many of us do) that you're a burden, or being irrational or that it will pass. If you don't speak up, you're not doing what's best for you or your baby. In addition to this (at the expense of being a little long-winded) find your centers. The things you can do daily to take care of you so you can take care of your baby. Check in with yourself and take your “emotional/mental temperature” so to speak. Go on a walk. Take 5 minutes to listen to your favorite song in the dark. Whatever it is, do it to keep yourself out of the dark place.

WD: Top 5 TV shows

SJS: Ah. Now on to the hard hitters.

At the risk of sounding pretentious I'm more into books than TV but as of this moment I dig Letterkenny, Bob's Burgers and This is Us.

I'll go ahead and give you my top 5 books. They're pretentious as hell.

1. Slaughterhouse 5
2. The Poisonwood Bible
3. Dark Matter
4. A Town Like Alice
5. Gilead
6. The Knife of Never Letting Go
7. Circe
8. The Thorn Birds
9. Mord
10. You are A Badass

(This led to a rabbit trail involving us dashing to look at our bookshelves and make lists of all our favorite pretentious books, offering to loan each other stacks. She skipped the angsty teen phase, so never had the pleasure of Catcher in the Rye!)

WD: What kind of bear is best?

SJS: Black bears. Fact.

WD: What else would you like Wichita to know about you?

SJS: I do one free session a month for someone in recovery. Addiction runs deep on both sides of my family and everywhere in between so I feel like it's important to celebrate those who are in recovery, their journey is arduous and they deserve support, recognition and love.

Sarah Jane Silvers Photography is our official event photographer for this year’s Wichita Baby Gala 2019, so you’ll get the opportunity to meet her, win a free session, and be featured in event photos! We’d love if you would support her by liking her Facebook page also.