Newborn photography is amazing. It's collecting rugs, blankets, props. It's considering backgrounds, lighting, beanbags, baskets. It's safety, it's comfort, it's soothing. It's reassuring parents there's not much for them to do, and that whatever is happening is normal.
It's squats, and bends, and awkward workouts over a sleeping baby.
It's being one of the first faces another human will ever study.
It's appreciating relationship and trying new things.
It's not cropping out a comforting hand.
It's me being way more excited about something then the parents are.
It's feeling excited for people that aren't you, for cherishing the light that shines in their eyes. It's hoping that you captured an ounce of their happiness, and hoping that they know what they have is rare.
An exorbitant amount of the day is spent trying to get a newborn back to sleep to get the more difficult images. I have had a few friends ask if we drug the baby-- no. Well, I don't. hah! And this baby woke with each pose change, so she was not unduly groggy. We rock them, massage them, play ambient music, fans or heaters for white noise...
The experience during editing though woke me to the fact that there is nothing wrong with photographing more images of the awake baby. The image here with her eyes wide open and just taking it in really makes me want to shoot more of those images. And so, I will.
Thank you to TIna and Robbie for choosing me to take these images; I know she's already changed in the two weeks since we did this shoot! See you in a couple more months ;)