A new life, born to a world of opportunity; a new beginning.
A new venture; another small step for me in the world of professional photography.
Saturday, June 9th was a big day for me. And a big day for one sweet little baby boy. Orion S. came to my house/studio accompanied by his family–daddy, mommy and little sister–so that they could have some portraits taken of him, and for their first family portraits to be taken–by me!
What an honor, privilege, and responsibility! To capture the beauty and innocence of a wonderful gift from God so recently born into this world–what wonder and awe fill my heart. The excitement welled up in me from the time we first arranged to have the shoot. So excited, yet wanting to be prepared for anything, for days I studied newborn photographers' methods, read books and articles, watched online tutorials, and swallowed every morsel of more experienced photographers' wisdom that I could get my hands on, going on late into the night and groggily dragging myself out of bed the next morning in order to meet life's other demands.
My very first official newborn shoot was in less than a week! Can you say excited?!
Saturday dawned bright, sunny, and hot. I nervously, but excitedly, made a few last minute preparations. I wanted everything to be in place.
I will add that though I've photographed little ones, including babies, I've never photographed a true "newborn." Like, ten days old newborn! There are so many things that come into play with newborn shoots vs. shooting older babies/children. If you're shooting bare bums, then there's soiled blankets and props and backdrops (and hopefully nothing and nobody else was caught in the line of fire!), and of course there's always the concern of comfort and safety more than ever for such a vulnerable little one, not to mention feedings, changings, spit-ups and potentially hiccups, etc. I prepared–as much as one could possibly prepare–for the unexpected. Boy am I glad that I've had a lot of experience caring for little ones in my life!
I anticipated all of the above, and more! But what I got was nothing like I expected, to say the least. Orion was a perfect little angel! Hardly a whimper escaped his lips as I posed and re-positioned and adjusted this or that throughout the shoot. We made sure it was plenty warm enough for the little guy, meaning mommy, my mom (who was assisting) and I were dripping in sweat, while he laid perfectly content for the majority of the shoot, only squirming and fussing a teensy bit when we moved him. Not once, NOT ONCE, did the sprinkler system come on during the shoot! And nor did a portion of his breakfast make its way onto our laps! Needless to say, we were all shocked.
I fully expect my next newborn model to soak the room and vomit up the breakfast menu to make up for it!
I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am looking forward to my next newborn shoot now more than ever!
A few from the shoot...
Congrats to the Shadler family on the arrival of their precious little baby boy, Orion!
