My name is Allyson Barth, and I am the owner and photographer of Crescent Moon Photography. I have had a passion for the art of photography since I was around the age of nine years old. I was amazed at how through the lens of a camera, I could capture a moment, freeze it in time, and then look at that moment over and over again. Without that photograph, all I would have is a fading memory of that moment.

Although I loved photography, I decided to major in science at the University of Rhode Island and earned my Bachelor’s degree in Dental Hygiene. However, after working for many years as a dental hygienist, I decided to follow my heart and began taking local classes in photography. This ignited my passion so much that I enrolled in Rhode Island School of Design’s photography program and graduated in 2013. Since then, I have never looked back and now look at people’s smiles from a much different perspective.

I often get asked, “Why or how did you get into this?” My answer is that I love creating images that show the emotion between people and their family members or pets with my pet photography business called Animal Reflections Photography. I want to create a legacy for generations to come. I started out my business photographing pets and their families. I must say the greatest gift of all is when I see the joy on my clients’ faces when they receive their images after the ordering appointment.  It is so profound and gratifying that it inspires me to continue my growth as an artist and pursue other areas of photography.

For these reasons, along with inquiries and interest from several clients, I have branched out into the genre of Maternity and Newborn photography. I learned as much as I could about the genre and began photographing various clients. I immediately knew that I not only loved capturing such amazingly personal moments, but needed to document these incredible life stages for my clients. There is a movement happening in the photography community right now. It is that “we have to exist in photographs for our children.” Statistics show that this generation of children will be the most photographed, but they will have the least printed photos to look back on when they get older because people are not printing them. They keep them on their phones or on memory cards and eventually, these ways of saving the images will become obsolete. It is truly important to hand down tangible memories to our children.

So why Maternity and Newborns?  The nine months a woman is pregnant and creating a new life is such a special time that it needs to be documented. I feel that children should know what their parents looked like before they were born, see the natural beauty of their mother carrying them, and know how much they were loved before they even arrived. This is all part of creating a legacy. Once the baby arrives, I consider it an honor to photograph that child or children when they are just days old.  Babies grow so fast and quickly evolve into toddlers, preschoolers, and so on. I want to capture all of these special moments for them and their families so that future generations will have these images to look back on for years to come.

I am also constantly educating myself by attending Maternity and Newborn Workshops and Conferences as far away as California. It is an ever-changing genre of photography and although I have vast knowledge of head and neck anatomy I obtained my certificate in newborn safety. I am also current on vaccinations and flu shots.

I am married with three amazing sons who grew up in the blink of an eye. I know firsthand how important it is to capture the moments that mean the most. In my spare time, I also love to photograph landscapes and am very interested in the world of macro photography. I still take classes and workshops in all different types of photography; in this art, you can never stop learning or fueling your creativity. I also visit galleries in Boston and New York City several times a year. I am continuously learning, growing as an artist, and expanding my talent. Each day that passes, I feel I am better than the day before.