1 Breath Photography
Tammy Belaire is the proud owner of 1 Breath Photography and the mind behind a very different business model that gifts 70% of the photo sessions to causes and celebrations that call to her heart. “I strive to offer photo experiences to help clients heal, rejoice, remember and cherish. I specialize in birth, family, pets and charitable event photos.”
Many moons ago, Tammy started her career off as a Private Investigator, sparking her love of photography. After giving birth to her micro-preemie baby with congenital heart disease at 28 weeks, she made a promise. “As I sat with my tiny daughter in the NICU, I watched five babies sadly pass without any “normal” non-medical photos. I decided one day I would change that for families and take these much-needed photos.”
Life threw in a few wrenches along the way that included being diagnosed with lupus and tossing out a few organs she no longer got along with. At the time Tammy had her daughter, she was working at Ontario Works. Sadly, due to her health decline, she had to leave her beloved job. If that wasn’t difficult enough, she also got divorced and moved out from the matrimonial home with her daughter. “Thankfully we did the divorce thing well and stayed friends as we cared for our daughter with love until he died due to cancer.”
Due to lupus, Tammy was virtually bed bound for almost 10 years. After many surgeries, gear upgrades, formal education and practice, her beloved camera once again became her permanent appendage. The skills she has acquired along her journey have shown her how to persevere, while utilizing her empathy and compassion for others. Many of her sessions are for other charitable organizations such as Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Her volunteer work with #NILMDTS, an organization that gifts heirloom photos to families who suffer infant loss, helped her to offer like-minded sessions to anyone dealing with illness/death of a loved one or pet. “It truly doesn’t take that much to be kind. I choose to do so with my camera in tow.”
