Photography

20 Women Proudly Share Before And After Photos Of Becoming A Mom

Getting pregnant and giving birth significantly changes a woman.

Published December 13, 2024

One of the biggest responsibilities anyone can bestow upon themselves is becoming a mom/parent. It’s no easy task to be financially, morally, and emotionally available to fully guide a child until he or she is eighteen. The least we can do in return is to ensure our parents’ efforts and sacrifices are well appreciated and that their desires for us to be great in life become a reality.

To express her appreciation to every mom out there, Lithuanian photographer Vaida Razmislavičė has launched a passport-format photo series dedicated to motherhood. It’s called Becoming A Mother, aimed at showing how getting pregnant and giving birth to a firstborn can significantly change a woman by focusing on their eyes.

More info: vaidaphoto.com | Facebook | Instagram

#1

20 Women Proudly Share Before And After Photos Of Becoming A Mom — Vaida Markevičiūtė

#2

#3

#4

#5

Vaida has gone through changes herself after becoming a mom and told Bored Panda in an interview, “Before my firstborn, my idea of motherhood was very different.” She added, “To be honest, I didn’t feel the motherhood instinct when I first took him into my arms. I’ve learned everything along the way, including ignoring old know-it-all’s and growing the courage to trust my own decisions.”

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

According to Vaida, raising kids is a deep experience filled with joy, love, pain, and exhaustion. She explained that when a woman becomes a mom, she tends to naturally feel an inner energy, her intuition becomes stronger, and her wisdom reaches new heights. She continued, “I came up with the idea for this project when meeting people who thought of a newborn as some sort of obstacle to the parents.”

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

Vaida further explained that the inspiration behind her project is to show people it’s possible to live in harmony even after becoming a mom, especially as she had managed to get a Master’s degree while raising two children. “In a way, with these beautiful photos, I ended up healing myself. Looking directly into these women’s eyes, I relived giving birth to my first son,” she said.

Vaida insisted that after becoming a mom it was interesting seeing all of the little details that changed in just a few months and added, “All of the traumas and fears that I locked somewhere inside myself came back, only to vanish in the process. I realized the journey I’ve been on as a mother. The fruits that I’m reaping today now that my boys are almost all grown up.”

#17

#18

#19

#20

Since releasing the project, a few people have slammed it for its post-production, but Vaida herself has responded, claiming she had been worried about lightning and explaining she took the before and after photos in different studios. She clarified she used whatever spaces she could get, and even though she could have faked the first batch of portraits, she didn’t want to do that.

Vaida clarified she used only natural lighting, and due to her lack of experience, she retouched very few details in post-production. She then said, “Now, if I could do it all over again, I’d use artificial lighting, trying to maintain the same conditions for every shoot,” adding that she welcomes every comment that can help her to get better.