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Me, that is! I’ve just been the usual, annual crazy busy with fall/holiday sessions, holiday card designs, birth announcement designs, newborn sessions, orders and packaging. The blog always gets more than a little neglected this time of year, but with so many long days and late nights already, my focus has to stay on getting galleries post-processed and orders completed. There are so many great sessions I want to share (and will share) once I get past the next week.

In the meantime, someone else is kicking as well – and he/she will make an appearance in just a few short weeks – eeek (so excited!) I’ve photographed this stunning mama and her beautiful belly twice now, as well as her first baby (soon-to-be big sister) throughout her first year; and there’s simply no greater compliment than being asked back to capture the growth of their family.

Some of my favorites:

I love it when perfect symbols (unintentional or otherwise) make their way into my sessions, especially this signature maternity session. When I’m first composing a shot, I’m initially thinking about the person I’m photographing – do I want this to be a closeup, 3/4 shot, full body? Horizontal or vertical orientation? What kind of in-camera cropping will I compose for? How is their clothing hanging? Are their hands loose and relaxed or balled up? Where is the light falling? What kind of expression do I want?

Then, after all of that, I double check the background making sure there isn’t something I would want to Photoshop out later. Or, in this case, something significant or meaningful that I want to compose around.

Like these circles:

And what pregnant mama hasn’t heard the following bit of advice? (The harsh light wasn’t ideal in this location, but I spotted the words as we were walking back to the cars and couldn’t resist.)

Once again, we were joking when she scheduled her maternity session that baby would likely come well ahead of her due date SIMPLY because she booked it with me. Remember the track record of early babies over the last four months?

Well, guess who arrived early?

 

We shot this session at their home which is a nice change every now and again from the studio sessions I normally do – it also allows us to incorporate the baby’s nursery in a bigger fashion. The beautiful rocking horse is a family heirloom:

Proving once again I really am funny:

 

I love a vintage prop and color pop as much as the next girl, but I also believe that, no matter the pose or the accessories, the focus of a newborn session should always be the nuances of that tiny little person.

The “smallness.”

The “curlyness.”

The “furryness.”

The “I just want to bottle that newborn baby smell and smother you with kisses …. ness.” :-)

(G’head, nose on up to your screen. I won’t tell.)

Here are some of my favorites of Quinn and his beautiful mama “before” and “after.”

I shot their maternity session about three weeks before her arrival and, despite some serious heat and humidity, we truly had fun with our shots and captured the love they have for one another as well as the anticipation of the big birth day. In our pre-session chats, I found out they are both avid tennis players and wanted to incorporate something along those lines. I went into the session with the vision for that shot, but a quick stop to cool off (and get a smoothie) revealed that vibrant blue wall and, instantly I knew we were in the right place.

Fast forward 4 weeks to baby Emmersyn and I’d say their hearts are beyond full. She is one of the most beautiful newborn girls I’ve ever photographed and slept the entire session, short of a few shots at the very end when we got to see those big eyes. I kept telling mom, that at 7 lbs. 9 oz., she was deceptively small to the eye, especially when she was all curled up on my chest for the next pose. It’s a long post with a ton of images, but I had so many favorites!

That hair. Those lips. (Sigh)

 

… in the form of an outtake from this recent high school senior session …

She looked down, gave a shy smile between shot compositions and wow.

Beautiful.

 

 

 

And one more that caught my eye from another session this past weekend. The beautiful silhouette of a beautiful thing to come. More from this stunning mama-to-be and her newborn soon.

 

 

 

 

We had beautiful late afternoon light for this gorgeous mama’s maternity session and two weeks later, we had a beautiful baby boy in front of the lens. As a photographer, it really doesn’t get much better than this.

Meet sweet Will “before” and “after” he decided to make his entrance into the world.