One of the most special times in anyone’s life is the birth of a child.  They grow and change so quickly moment to moment, that I love to help my clients capture that feeling of newness after the birth of their children.  I know it sounds cliché but each newborn is already developing its own ‘personality’ to me.  This makes each newborn session and adventure.  Baby C was no exception he was so much his own little personality, laid back, relaxed and ready to ‘play’.  I think he would have slept through anything and hope for his parent’s sake he still loves to sleep.

I think that the most successful sessions are those that have three things a happy baby, a WARM room (think 78-80 degrees) and a relaxed Mom.  When you put all three things together you get some amazing images.  Like this one of Mr. C just sleeping away!

I also love it when I can use personal items, which then make your images unique and one of a kind. For baby C we got to use two special blankets and I just love this image of him just hanging out on the blanket his great-grandmother made for him.  It does not get any better than this!

Everyone always asks where I get the hats! Let me say ETSY!  I can spend hours and hours there just looking at all the beautiful wares, by other talented artists.  It makes me sad that my own kids are developing their own personality and wanting to do their own thing, rather then what I have chosen!

I just love this hat on Mr. C – what about you?

What I can share is that tomorrow I will have my first ever CASTING CALL.  You may wonder what a casting call is, it’s when I have a creative idea and really really want to try it out, but my poor children are either a. the wrong age or b. so OVER Mommy and her camera that they run the second I say photo.

More tomorrow!

So when the W family emailed me back in February to ask if was available to take newborn photos I was excited.  I had photographed their daughter two years ago and was honored that they wanted me to do the photographs when their son arrived.

Mr. M was a doll.  I think his sister slept better, but he gave me some great expressions. His favorite way to sleep reminded both his Mom and I of a prize fighter.  Then he smiled which lead me to believe he was having a sweet dream about being a prize fighter (I bet Dad would love to hear that!).

Baby J is no exception.  He liked being naked and was very content on my bean bag.  I think he had almost convinced his Dad that he needed one for his room already.  He was  a trooper and got through most of my ‘poses’ before he let us know that he was done with being photographed in his own unique way.

I always try to use personal items whenever possible in my photographs.   So to show case Dad’s love of hockey we had planned to photograph Baby J in a few of Dad’s favorite Hockey Jerseys.  He had just been put into Dad’s Juniors Jersy — when you guessed it he pooped.  put him into Dad’s High school jersey and taken a couple of shots, when….. it happened Baby J decided to poop. That was the end of it for him!

S family I hope you are doing well and your gallery will be ready soon.

1. Please,Please check out this post by fellow photographer Lisa Russo. She has said something I have felt for a while and said it well.  I think that as the popularity of some newborn poses continues to grow, we all need to be aware that many of those amazing images shown in media outlets are composites or done with photographers working as a TEAM .

2. I found this link for Ruffle Butts on photographer Yvonne Nieman of St. Louis’s blog the other day.  These are amazing!  They will make for fun shots as your little one grows and starts to crawl away or run as they get bigger.

3. Has anyone found a Tonka Truck lately? I love these classic toys but have not seen any at Target, recently.  They make for a fun ’size’ comparison as a baby boy grows and I wanted to add to John’s outdoor collection for the summer.

4. Don’t forget to take images during that first year. I recommend you focus less on the ‘age’ and more on the milestones and love to see my newborns come back when they can sit (at about 6-8 months) and again at a year when they can walk!

5. I am booking up for the spring so if you are interested in a newborn session, please call as soon as you can to secure a spot on my list.

I just love to photograph newborns.  There is nothing more special then this time when they are fresh and new and full of promise.  They are all so unique and the best part of my job is that I can capture that for their parents.

This is Mr. R.

I drove out to meet him and his parents for the his first ’session’ and went through some fun little towns along the way, such as Now Then (yes there is a town here called Now Then) on my way to St. Frances.

He was a stinker and just didn’t want to have both eyes doing the same thing — He was a move and a shaker when we too his Mom’s maternity photos, and he is still a mover and a shaker!  He has the most amazing eyes and a knack for keeping just one eye open as if to make sure he does not miss a thing!

Today we tried again, and I can say we have many images with both eyes doing the same thing!  Way to go Mr. R.

Hope you enjoy your peak!

Shannon

I think that I would have been more on top of things, but I spent a few hours going through all the wonderful images of my childhood.  My wonderful Mother spent hours and hours scanning all the old 35mm slides she had of our childhood and put them on an external hard drive. My kids just love looking at them, though it is hard for them to grasp that I was ever that small!  I found this gem of me, at about five days old.  I put it next to one I took of Kate. WOW!  Go figure some newborn ‘poses’ are timeless and more importantly you can tell she really is my mini me!

This little gal came to me from Cottage Grove, her Momma and Grandma drove through morning traffic to make it out to me.  I am so honored that they chose me to photograph Miss S for her firt professional portraits.

I am working on your gallery it should be up just after the holidays!

It seems like the baby boys are out numbering the little girls this spring. I have photographed three and have a session with a fourth and maybe a fifth newborn baby boys in the next couple of weeks.  If you know if any newborn little girls that want to be photographed, I could use one or two to balance out the boys I am doing right now!  I have some amazing little pink hats sitting in storage!

Mr. T was the sweetest guy.  He was a trooper too!  He gave us nothing but amazing little expressions as he slept.  However, when he was done, well he was done!  LOL.

W family your gallery is live and the links are on their way to you! I hope you enjoy your images!