Toni & Carl’s cherry blossom wedding is featured on the DC Wedding Blog, United With Love! The weather was damp, but their wedding day was warm and festive – full of tradition and love! I especially appreciated that they didn’t let the weather wash out their dream of pictures under the cherry blossoms. To see many more wedding pictures, along with some thoughts from Toni, click here.
And happy early anniversary, Toni and Carl!
Jason and Jane are getting married very soon! Fortunately the weather cooperated enough for a playful and sweet engagement shoot in Georgetown, Washington DC. I had such fun photographing their happiness! This is the best part of my job, working with people so in love it oozes out of them. And it certainly shows in the pictures, aren’t they the cutest? I’ve known Jane for several years, which makes it even more special to see what God has done in bringing together two wonderful people. I look forward to being a guest at a wedding for a change, and celebrating with them on their wedding day!
How sweet is this little face? Leah was a perfect angel to photograph and slept so well for lots of poses. (Thanks Anne for keeping her awake, stuffing her full, and helping me move her while keeping her asleep!) I really enjoy working with newborns, they are so precious and change so quickly. They are only brand new babies for such a short time and I know these pictures will be treasured forever.
This is a great question, and planning ahead ensures the perfect baby pictures for the first year of your child’s life. I know every parent is smitten by their new baby and wants to capture every moment. And you should! While I certainly recommend a good camera (an entry level SLR is perfect) for capturing lots of candids, it’s important to have professional pictures of your baby as well. So, the next big question is when should that be done? Actually there are stages, more so than ages, when pictures will be the best.
The first one is newborn. Ideally around 5 to 7 days old. The baby is usually eating full meals by now but also still in that super sleepy stage. Baby acne hasn’t started and they still look brand new. It’s amazing how fast they change! This portrait session is inside by a bright window in your home, so the naked baby stays nice and toasty warm and sleeps through the shoot (hopefully!).
(The optional age to photograph is the rolly polly stage around 3 or 4 months, they’ve found their toes and can prop themselves up on the elbows. At this stage there’s not as much to do with them from a photography perspective, except that some of the headshots at this age are my favorites. It also completes an almost quarterly photography schedule for the first year of the baby’s life. Usually this will be outside, in the grass or on a blanket.)
The next stage is sitting up – really well – but not trying to crawl. This can be anywhere from 5 to 8 months. The baby needs to be sitting up for an extended amount of time without falling over, so a parent doesn’t need to be inches away to catch. Babies also tend to think their parents are hilarious during this stages, so it’s easy to catch lots of cute smiles. Once they start leaning forward and trying to crawl, we’ve lost their attention till they’re 5. This photo session is one where we can take full advantage of the scenery, benches, flowers, doors, etc. – there are so many cute places to put them! This is my favorite age to photograph (with newborns a very close second).
The final “baby” stage is the standing but not quite off and running stage. This is somewhere around one year old. The baby is interested in standing more than crawling and may be taking a few steps. Holding onto things is fine. Again, once they are walking confidently, it’s hard to get them to stop or slow down or look up. This is an outdoor session as well, with plenty of room to let them explore.
Sometimes these stages are a little hard to predict. But it’s better to contact me early, even for a tentative session date, so we can plan ahead for the best pictures at the perfect time.
When my friend Sara told me last summer she was expecting her 3rd child in February and asked if I could come to Jacksonville, Florida for newborn pictures, I was more than happy to plan an escape to someplace warm. Memories of the previous February where it felt like I spent the entire month shoveling snow were all too recent! Then when Sara found out that a baby girl would be joining two big brothers we were even more excited about the prospect of a newborn portrait session. The long awaited baby girl arrived and Jessalyn made her modeling debut in style, isn’t she precious?! I had lots of new props to use and I must say I love the headbands with the feathers, flowers, netting and pearls that I found on Etsy. A little shopping at a local antique mall turned up an ice cream churn, coal bucket and a scale appropriately inscribed “American family scale”. So cute! Add a beautiful mamma and baby for super sweet pictures!
(A note about newborn photography. Babies sleep the soundest and are the most “moldable” when they are brand new. Ideally a newborn shoot should take place at 5 to 7 days for the greatest chance of a successful shoot with a sleeping baby that’s posable. So, please contact me before the baby is born so we can anticipate the shoot and make sure it happens soon after coming home.)
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