Jen Potter – 2024 Photographer of the Year

When you ask Jen Potter what brought her to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, she shares a list of six names:

Noah, Joanna, Emilie, Bridget, Joel, and Charlotte.

The first baby was Noah, the son of Jen’s best friend Kristin. After receiving a life-limiting diagnosis around 18 weeks gestation, they began researching resources available for Noah’s arrival. It was 2006, just a year after NILMDTS had been founded, and there were no NILMDTS photographers in their entire region. So Kristin asked Jen, an artist and photographer, to capture photos of Noah’s birth. Noah was born on December 14, 2006 and lived for 1 hour and 42 minutes. Jen and her husband were present with their friends during this time, and Jen took hundreds of photos. Reflecting back on that experience, Jen stated, “It was something I never imagined I’d be able to do, but something I was so glad I was able to do for my friend. I knew how much it meant to her to have photos of him and all the sweet moments of his life. Long story short, that little boy changed the trajectory of my life. The Lord used Noah’s life to impact the world in so many ways… I’m so honored to get to see some of that and be a part of that.

All the families I have served through NILMDTS have photos of their baby because of Noah. It blows …