As the first grandchild, Sweet Baby O is the center of the universe for this family - which is just as it should be! This family was so happy, easy going, and fun loving - which made my job to photograph them a dream. Baby O also happens to be my niece, so I couldn't possibly love her any more than I already do. Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to document this special time in your lives.
I always enjoy meeting and photographing friends of previous clients. A word-of-mouth referral from a trusted friend is truly the greatest compliment to me and how my business has grown over the years. I met this wonderful family through another Pasadena family that I photographed several years ago - and both have been such a pleasure to work with. Photographing beautiful baby "E" was a dream since she was so sweet and sleepy. Doesn't she have the prettiest little face?! She joins her older brother who was adorable and full of energy and smiles; though I'm partial to blond little boys since my own little guy is a blondie. We got so many great images it was hard to narrow it down, but these are just a few of my favorites from our time together. Congratulations on your newest addition - she is so lucky to have such loving and devoted parents!
Custom-designed leather heirloom albums are a timeless, artistic way to showcase a portrait session. These portrait albums are hand-crafted and some of the highest quality available. They can be included in the family archives alongside other special items like a wedding album. Albums can be designed for once-in-lifetime milestones, like the arrival of a new baby, or to chronicle the growth of a family. It's such a fun idea to plan a family portrait session at the same time each year to show how your family has grown and changed and then showcase the images in a heirloom album for the family archives. I love these albums so much that I am planning to create an album per year for my family. This featured album is eight inches by eight inches with a genuine leather cover. I custom design each album to showcase the best images from the portrait session. I like to keep the design timeless, simple, and elegant, which is achieved by featuring only one to four images per spread. This design includes 20 pages and approximately 30 images.
Consider what ways are you chronicling your family's growth. Once your children are grown I'm certain that they will thoroughly enjoy your efforts - as well as laughing with their siblings about the "awkward stages" they went through while growing up!
Baby Stella was such a pleasure to photograph! Her gummy little smiles lit up her sweet face when her mommy was talking to her. Nine weeks is a really great age to photograph because they are still so tiny and new, yet very social, aware, and ready to offer very expressive smiles. Throughout the session it was so clear that Stella is adored by her whole family, especially big sister Sienna. I had the pleasure of photographing Sienna three and a half years ago so it was wonderful seeing her again. She is so fun and full of energy and I'm sure will continue to be a loving big sister in the years to come. Thank you for inviting me into your home and welcoming me with such hospitality as I had the pleasure of photographing your growing family!
Babies and children are my favorite subjects to photograph. They are also some of the most difficult subjects to photograph. As a mother, I understand how challenging it can be to get good pictures of our own children. We have an idea of the perfect photo that we want to capture, but generally our children have a different idea about having their photos taken. Once my son became mobile, I took more photos of the back of his head while he was quickly crawling away from me than I did of his adorable little smile. Just take a look at this photo below to see my point. :-)
I wanted to share a few photography tips as you photograph your babies and children that hopefully will help you as you document their growing up.
Tip 1: Bring out the natural emotion rather than forcing the perfect posed photograph. Ask yourself: Why are you taking photos of your new baby? Probably to preserve the memory of what they are like at this exact age. You likely want to remember their soft newborn skin and silky newborn hair, so it doesn’t matter if they are making eye contact with the camera or are perfectly asleep and curled into a basket. Photograph all their little details just as they are without worrying about the perfect poses. When it comes to older ones, you can pose a child but they will look stiff and uncomfortable and not how they usually look with all of their energy and excitement and smiles. Remember, it’s okay if the photo comes out a little bit out of focus, if it captures the emotion of the moment. Capturing the emotion of the moment will be more meaningful in the years to come than a forced smile. My son is teething so he is always chewing on things. He especially likes to chew on his shoes, even though I try to stop him. The few photos below capture this brief time in his life when he LOVES chewing on shoes, along with his intent expression offering me the shoes to chew. Silly baby!
I shot a lot of images this day, but this is the only one I got of him smiling and not chewing his shoes. I don't even think it's really a smile because I think he was actually shouting and talking to me. But it's his genuine expression and that's why I love it.
Tip 2: Move beyond saying cheese… Photograph a serious or thoughtful expression. Asking children to say cheese elicits a horrible forced smile for most kids. If you are determined to get them to smile in your photo tell them a joke or make silly noises to make them laugh. This will yield a more natural smile. But also remember that soulful eyes in the photo are beautiful and a serious look or a child deep in thought while looking at a book can be so endearing, too. For example, I love this serious shot below of my guy while he studies a leaf.
Thanks for taking the time to read these photography tips. I hope they will be helpful for you and stay tuned for more tips to follow in the weeks to come. Also, feel free to ask me any questions you may have about photographing your own babies and kids and I will try to include them in future blog posts. :-)