Breastfeeding awareness photo by Lowveld photographer wins award

A Mbombela photographer’s breastfeeding awareness photograph has bagged the AFNS Awards’ Best Photograph of the Month in the category of breastfeeding.

Lize Leonard of Little Miracles Photography is the winner of the best photo of August. She entered her outstanding photograph that got the Lowveld talking.

The AFNS Awards were founded in 2017, and are an international competition for photographers in the fields of newborn and maternity photography. In this photograph, Leonard captured 10 women breastfeeding their kids of various ages outside in an open space, enjoying nature.

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These women are of different backgrounds, and yet they have one thing in common – nurturing their kids.
Leonard said her inspiration behind this photoshoot was that she wanted to be the reason another breastfeeding mum feels supported, empowered and never alone.

This photoshoot is part of raising awareness on breastfeeding; it was done during World Breastfeeding Week, which is the outreach vehicle for the breastfeeding movement that is celebrated in various countries during the first week of August every year.

Talking to the newspaper about the day of the photoshoot, she said it was not an easy session, as she had to keep everyone’s feeding schedules in mind, not to mention nap time. She said she wanted to capture the connection created between a mother and a child, and this could only be visible when they were feeding their babies.

Leonard said the age gap also played a role, as the youngest was three weeks old and the oldest was two years old. She said despite the preparations and behind-the-scenes processes, the session was greatly fulfilling, as she is passionate about breastfeeding.

As a mother of two, Leonard has her own experiences breastfeeding her kids, as well as other things she picked up through her work. She knows it has a good impact on babies. She said she understands the struggles mothers go through when they try to nurse their babies, and how it is viewed by society when done in public.

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“I love being able to assist clients coming for a newborn shoot, even if I am not a professional. During a session, one of my clients was struggling so badly, that she was considering quitting after six days of breastfeeding. And after I gave her some advice, she managed to breastfeed for two years. She was also part of the shoot and she even started doing prenatal consultations and is a breastfeeding consultant. So I love that I got to play a small part in her breastfeeding journey through my own.”

Leonard said she has had her share of people making comments while breastfeeding her baby.

“Someone once suggested that I breastfeed in the bathroom, I asked the person if they would be OK with eating their food in the bathroom too. When I breastfeed, I cover to a point that almost no one will be aware of what I am doing, so this came as a shock to me,” she explained.

One of the mothers who was part of the photoshoot, Charné Kolbé, a mother of four, said she enjoyed the session. She has been breastfeeding for the past nine years since her children’s age gap is not big. She said at first it was daunting to do the photoshoot, although when she got together with the other mums, that changed.

“When we were all together, it felt natural, as we were all soothing our babies and nurturing them.”
Kolbé said breastfeeding is not just about transferring milk to the baby or only about feeding. She said there’s a deeper connection.

“A baby bottle will not be able to create the connection formed between a mother and her child. As we breastfeed, we create a bond. We make our babies feel safe and nurture them too,” she explained.
For her photoshoot to be a success, Leonard had sponsors. They made sure each mum received a bag of goodies.