I'm Liam, of Kismet — a solo, indie birth keeping & photography practice in Chicago, IL. I hang my fanny pack in Edgewater where I live with my fiance, Mercedes, a deep-hearted middle school teacher I'm spellbound by, and with whom I share the creative practice called home. As a doula, photographer, and writer I am a safe keeper and storyteller of what it means to be, become, and belong. I have a BA in Gender Studies, am a certified full spectrum doula and childbirth educator, and am a member of the Queer Doula Network. I've presented and published research on the intersections of sexuality, gender, and queer culture, and been shown in art exhibitions in the midwest. My career background is in reproductive health and non profits as an educator, direct care professional, and in state policy and project management. I’ve held hands, protest signs, pelvis models, newborns, and once, an overwhelmed mother-in-law. I’ve wrapped swaddles around babies, my sister’s postpartum belly in her kitchen after her third (and last) baby was born, and warm towels over the shoulders of those in labor as they step out of a birthing tub. My practice invites you to be tender and curious, honoring your right to be who you are as you are; nurturing the truth that you are the expert of your own experience and knowledge building is a collaborative mixture of education, experience, and intuition. 

♡ photog & doula services ♡ DOULA — The care you receive through all reproductive transitions – whether it’s fertility, birth, or postpartum – should be designed for your comfort, needs, and wants. It should see you in your full context – your stage of life, unique body, lived experience, culture, community, ability, desires, and dreams.  I provide full spectrum, innovative, comprehensive, and community-focused doula care. My birth & postpartum services encompass the entire pregnancy-birth-postpartum journey (sometimes the conception journey, too!) and I stay with families for a year after their birth. PHOTOG — I specialize in birth photography and long-form, in-home portraits of families, pregnancy, and people. My style is a mixture of narrative portraiture, and photojournalism. It is emotional, intimate, irreverent, nostalgic, poetic. As a long-form photographer, I spend a meaningful amount of time with folks — anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire day. As a birth photographer, I spend time with families to build a trusting relationship, and provide postpartum support for a year after the birth. All photography options include a framed print, with the opportunity to include modern-style albums. MODEL OF CARE— The Kismet model of care is trauma aware, body-sex-kink positive, anti-racist, LGBTQ affirming, pro-choice, and affirming of all journeys and families; it is rooted in principles of slow living, somatic healing, common herbal medicine, cultural appreciation, and reproductive justice. It weaves together traditional and modern perspectives to nurture your well-being and mind-body-heart connection.