It's a New Year... So here are some Newborns!

I am going to come clean about something right now for 2014:  I am a TERRIBLE Blogger (as one can plainly see from my lack of posts!).  If you follow my page on Facebook, you know very well I have shot MANY MANY more sessions that what are posted here.  And so, I'm starting fresh for the year and truly hoping I allow myself more time to share my favorites on here!

2013 was a big year for finding what I'm most comfortable shooting and what I am most pleased with as an end result.  I think one of the areas where I truly "found myself" as far as style this year was Newborn sessions.  I won't lie, when I first started out, these sessions were probably the most daunting.  Sure, I have two kids of my own, so babies aren't foreign to me, HOWEVER... finding interesting ways to shoot a little human who doesn't do much except look SUPER adorable and squishy can be a challenge.  I reviewed many other newborn photographers images for inspiration and after attempting those perfectly-posed-portrait shots... I realized that look WASN'T for me.  Sure, I feel it's important for every family to get some classic, clean "put it up in the frame" shots of their new little one, but I found that wasn't what was special about my opportunities with these new families.  That frame-perfect shot doesn't tell a story, and that's what I LOVE to do in photography.  I want  my clients to be able to put their images into a book, a book with no words, and let it speak for itself.  For Newborn sessions, I began approaching the sessions completely differently.  I go into each new baby's home now with the goal of creating a full snap shot of their life in these first few days so that in 20-30 years, they can go and pull out that book from this session and see their room, their tiny feet with the dry, peeling, newborn skin.  The umbilical cord stub, still fresh.  the first yawns, their older siblings excited little grins as they get to snuggle the new baby. The first documented smiles and how petite they were in Daddy's hands and laying against Mommy. I wanted to make sure all of those little details of the room that were so special and meaningful to mom and dad are documented too.  That First room tells so much and it gets by-passed by so many photographers!

I stopped showing up with a million blankets and backdrops to my sessions this year.  Sure, I have stuff on hand, should we need it, but I wanted the backgrounds and blankets and everything in the image to breathe life into the portfolio of images, to help set the scene.  My generic items are okay for some shots, but they mean nothing to the family.  And these images, should be packed full to the brim with meaning and sentiment.

And so, I went through my photos and here are some of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES of 2013!  Enjoy!!!