A little bit about how I got here….

I’ve been taking pictures as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina stole many of my personal photographs and printed memories that photography took on a new meaning to me. Our family lost almost everything to the storm and while we started to recover, my need to capture new memories was in full force as our daughter was still a baby. Within days of purchasing our first family DSLR, my husband picked up the camera and started to flip through the images I had taken. When he got to one image in particular, he looked closer, and with a little scowl and a little shock, turned to me and said “Did you know you could do this?” I didn’t know. Within days of picking up my first DSLR, we saw something in what I captured. Something different, something simple, just something. I was hooked and I dove in headfirst. I learned everything I could, I spent hours upon hours researching, practicing, learning, making mistake after mistake. I did what everyone else was doing, just to see if I could do it too. I soaked it all in and slowly but surely started to define and develop my own style. It wasn’t long before I started photographing other families during the spring of 2006. Giggles-n-Grins Photography was born. My family continued to rebuild our home from the ground up until we finally finished our home and sold it in the fall of 2007. With our 3rd child on the way, we knew we wanted to move to a place that would suit our family and a growing photography business. We visited several cities, unwilling to put our family through another hurricane and all the heartache that comes with it. Once we stepped foot in Austin, it was an easy decision. We love it here and can’t imagine ourselves living anywhere else.

After our move in October of 2007, I took several months off to have our 3rd child. During that time I worked hard getting everything ready for the new business we would open after maternity leave was over. One thing kept popping up in my mind, the words of my clients in Louisiana, “will you photograph my children like you do yours?”. As a result, Life in Motion Photography was born, real moments, real emotion, because real life is worth photographing.

Life in Motion Photography opened in Austin, Texas in July of 2008. Just a few months later in October, the Austin Chronicle named me as the Best Kids Photographer in Austin, Texas for 2008. Crazy cool honor that has opened so many doors and allowed me to meet so many amazing people! I am so blessed and so thankful!

From the very beginning, my heart has been embedded in charity work. You can find out more about the charity work I do and the organizations I have worked with here.

In 2008, Life in Motion Photography expanded and opened The Birth Experience. I have been photographing births since 2007, but wanted this amazing form of documentation to stand on it’s own, so The Birth Experience, was, well, born! I offer tasteful, emotive documentation of birth experiences in and around the Austin area. My birth photography has been featured on the cover of Midwifery Today Magazine as well as Baby Talk Magazine. The Birth Experience expanded in 2010 to offer professional mentoring and working to bridge the gap between expectant mothers and professional birth photographers across the country.

2010 brought us to birthphotographers.com. I founded the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers (IAPBP) to aid in bridging the gap between professional photographers across the world and the expecting families looking for their services. With over 600 members in 15 countries, moms are finding professional photographers in their area to create meaningful and irreplaceable memories. IAPBP’s focus is on providing resources to expectant parents, photographers and other birth professionals through education, understanding the birth process, support and respect for each persons birth choices. My work with the IAPBP has also opened many doors including interviews with the national media outlets, The New York Times, Parenting Magazine and many others.

Oh, and the photograph that my husband stopped on that day almost 4 year ago, my beautiful baby girl……

Lyndsay Stradtner is an on-location, natural light photographer specializing in maternity, birth, newborn, baby, toddler, child, teen and engagement, couple and family photography. She is located in Austin Texas and services Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Round Rock and the surrounding areas. Please contact her at lstradtner@mac.com for session information and pricing.