Back in January, biracial twins Kalani and Jarani Dean achieved viral fame due to their different skin tones.
Now, the baby girls are warming hearts again thanks to a special photo shoot. Photographer Mary-Kathryn Nourse of Elite Photography took “rainbow baby” pictures of the duo in honor of their first birthday. A rainbow baby is a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death or infant loss.
Kalani and Jarani were born two years after their mom, Whitney Meyer, lost her 2-year-old son, Pravyn, in a drowning accident at his daycare pool. To celebrate the hope the twins brought after this devastating loss, they posed with colorful headpieces in front of a rainbow of flowers.
Nourse posted a photo from the shoot on the Elite Photography Facebook page, where it received nearly 10,000 likes within a week. The photographer told HuffPost the twins behaved like “typical 1-year-olds” during the shoot.
“You would sit one down and the other would crawl off and vice versa,” she said. The photographer also noted that they had a sweet bond. “They were always aware of the other and looking to make sure they were within sight of each other. Not only are their skin tones different but they really have their own personalities already.”
The photographer described the family as “very sweet and loving.” Though the mood at the photo shoot was light, Nourse said she became emotional looking at the images on her computer at home.
“I thought about how hard it must have been to have lost a child and how these little girls don’t even know it yet, but they are helping to heal so many people,” she said.
“I hope the photo gives others who have lost a child hope and strength to move forward,” she added. “I hope people can see color as just that, simply a color, and I hope it sends a message of love, unconditional love these baby girls will grow up being loved immensely and equally.”
