We recently connected with Lindsay Blackman and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lindsay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Eleven years ago, I set out on what would eventually become my full-time photography venture, LiveJoy Photography. The way I came up with the name still makes me smile to this day. It all started when I offered to photograph a friend’s newborn, armed with nothing but Pinterest inspiration and my living room as a makeshift studio. ‘I’ve seen some Pinterest pictures!’ I confidently declared. ‘Let’s try some photos in my living room!’
While those initial photos were far from perfect, my friends saw something special in my work. Their encouragement was immediate: ‘You should absolutely do this professionally!’ I obviously dismissed the idea at first, but their belief in me was persistent. As fate would have it, the baby’s father was a designer who texted me saying, ‘Come up with a business name, and I’ll create your logo!’
So, while still believing that I would never be a serious photographer, I came up with ‘LiveJoy Photography’ in less than 30 seconds – and remarkably, that original logo he created for me still represents my brand today. Though the name was chosen with absolutely zero thought, ‘LiveJoy’ evolved into something far more meaningful: a personal mantra for myself about consciously choosing and embracing joy in life.
Life has a way of testing our commitments, and the following eight years proved challenging beyond imagination. Through battles with infertility, countless treatments, two heart-wrenching miscarriages, and eventually a divorce, I found myself capturing other families’ precious moments while navigating my own profound losses.
Throughout these trials, my business name became my anchor. LiveJoy wasn’t just a brand – it was a daily reminder of my commitment to finding light in the darkness and choosing joy even in life’s most difficult chapters.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In my twenties, I made this amazing decision to pack up and head to photography school in Hawaii (I mean, who wouldn’t jump at that chance, right?). It was such an interesting time to learn – we were still deep in the film world, but digital cameras were just starting to pop up. I remember spending $800 on my first Canon digital camera – 3mb, and no fancy lenses or anything. Digital was still so new, but I love that I got to learn film too and spend hours in a dark room creating magic!
After trying out a few different types of photography, I realized there was only one thing that really made my heart happy – photographing babies and kids. I’ve always had this natural connection with children from even when I was a kid, and thankfully, they seem to feel the same way about me! That special bond is what led me to focus my business on Newborn Photography. You’ll never catch me shooting a wedding, but give me a precious newborn? Now that’s my happy place!
These days, I’m running my newborn and baby photography business here in Salem, Oregon, and I absolutely love it.
One thing that I am always working hard to be conscience of, and excel in, is how to make sure my clients feel completely at home with me. You know that saying that people may forget what you said, but people will never forget how you made them feel? That right there is my whole philosophy, especially when working with new mamas and their tiny bundles of joy.
One of my proudest moments was when I finally finished building my dream newborn studio back in 2017! I put my whole heart into every single detail. Everything, and I mean everything, was chosen with my clients in mind. I wanted to create this magical space where the moment you walk in, your shoulders just naturally relax and you feel at home.
Let me tell you, there’s nothing that makes me smile bigger than when clients first step through the door and their eyes light up with an “Ohhhh, it’s so beautiful here!” Those words are music to my ears and remind me that all those thoughtful decisions were totally worth it.
Being a mom myself, to twin boys, I totally get how huge and sometimes hard it is for mamas to hand their baby over to someone else. That’s why I put my whole heart into making sure that when that moment comes, every mama feels 100% confident that their little one is in good hands.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
The dream of motherhood was woven into the fabric of my being from my earliest memories. It wasn’t just a wish – it was the deepest yearning of my heart. Then, at 33, came the crushing news: I had the ovarian reserve of a woman decades older, coupled with endometriosis. The diagnosis felt like a door slamming shut on everything I’d imagined for my future.
But I refused to let that door stay closed.
For eight years, I threw myself into every fertility treatment available, weathering two devastating miscarriages along the way. I was wading through my darkest years, all while I was still making my living photographing new babies. I was capturing other families’ first precious moments with their baby while still deeply longing for my own. People would ask, with concerned faces, how I managed to surround myself with the very thing I longed for the most. The truth was simple: my work became my unexpected sanctuary. Documenting those tiny fingers and sleepy smiles, I found safety and healing. Yes, some days were harder than others, but mostly, those sessions helped mend my breaking heart.
Today, my story has blossomed into something more beautiful than I could have imagined. Through the incredible gift of embryo donation, I’m now the sole parent to three-year-old twin boys. The depth of my gratitude for this gift defies words. My unwavering faith in my calling to be a mother led me here – to these two beautiful souls who were waiting for me all along.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Like most photographers, my journey started with the classic side-hustle scenario – squeezing sessions into evenings and weekends while maintaining my regular desk job. Soon enough, I found myself working seven days straight, which led to an important conversation with my employers about scaling back to part-time. Those newly freed days became invaluable for building my business, and when my photography income finally matched my day job salary, I took that leap and handed in my notice.
Having the luxury of being able to pour into my passion every waking moment is where I felt like thing started to change. I was completely immersed in building this dream, but here’s the thing – the photography landscape looked totally different 8-11 years ago. We didn’t have the abundance of resources photographers have today – no Instagram inspiration overload, no one-on-one mentoring programs, barely any YouTube tutorials. Just a couple of big names to look up to, and the rest? Well, we were pretty much on our own to figure it out.
So I spent countless hours searching every corner of the internet I could find. Pinterest was just taking off (showing my age here!), and it became my only resource for discovering the style of newborn photography that truly resonated with me.
One of my favorite memories from those early days was one night being unable to sleep because I was so determined to figure how to wrap a newborn. And I was watching a tutorial video for hours. Around midnight, It clicked. I literally jumped out of bed, grabbed my dog’s stuffed bunny (my only willing model), and practiced that wrap over and over until I had it down. I think I even have a picture of it somewhere! Sometimes passion looks like practicing wrapping at 2am!
That dedication marked the turning point where my business transformed from a side gig into a true career. While the joy of working with newborns fueled my spirit, it was the relentless behind-the-scenes determination that built my success. The late nights, the endless practice sessions, the unwavering drive to improve – these were the real building blocks.
The thought of returning to a desk job became my strongest motivation, and honestly? It still drives me today. This wasn’t just about escaping the 9-to-5 grind; it was about building something I truly loved, something entirely my own. Sometime I could be proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.LiveJoyPhotography.com
- Instagram: @LiveJoyPhotography
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/livejoyphotography
- Other: TikTok @livejoyphotography
Image Credits
LiveJoy Photography