How this Business began: From Nurse to Legacy Photographer

My first Logo

"Christine Pudel Photography" wasn’t born out of ambition.

It was born out of survival.

Before I ever called myself a photographer, I was a nurse in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU. I was a patient. A grieving daughter-in-law. A brand-new mom. A cancer fighter. A woman who’d come face-to-face with fragility more times than she could count.

And in the middle of all of it, I started picking up my camera again—not for others at first, but for me.

Cancer changed me. Then Motherhood did, too.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with Medullary Thyroid Cancer.

It’s rare. Chronic. Unpredictable.

After that diagnosis, I started blogging. I needed words to process everything—diagnosis, scans, treatments, the ache of not knowing how long I had. Writing became my first form of legacy.

Photography came later.

In 2020, my son Luke was born. Three days later, Jeff’s mom passed away.

Seventy-one days later, his grandmother did too.

The same month, my cancer markers spiked to terrifying levels—and I had to ask the question no mom ever wants to ask:

Did I just give birth to a baby who might never really know me?

That question changed me.

It changed the way I held my son.

It changed the way I photographed our days.

And eventually… it changed the way I built my business.

I don't photograph just to fill a portfolio.

I Photograph Because I Know What’s at Stake.

Legacy isn’t about being perfect.

It’s about being remembered.

In those early postpartum months, I set up photoshoots with Luke. I wrote him a lullaby and recorded it. I journaled my prayers. I filled my phone with blurry, beautiful moments—because if I didn’t have forever, I needed to leave something now.

That urgency never left me

.And over time, I realized: I wanted to do that for others, too.

How "Christine Pudel Photography" was born

What started as a quiet practice of presence slowly turned into a business.

I didn’t want to just take pretty pictures.

I wanted to help people see what they carry.

To give moms more than selfies.

To give families images that mean something when words fall short.

To hold space in moments of grief, celebration, waiting, or healing.

From sacred sessions…to maternity and motherhood…to first birthdays and quiet bedtime routines... to taking snapshots of a love unfolding —

This business is my offering.

It’s how I say:

Your story matters.

And I’m here to help you remember it.