Almost a year ago (man how time flies when you’re a lazy blogger) I set out for a snowy day of baby photography in Westminster. I arrived at the home of Oliver’s grandparents to set up and was delighted with what I found. A precious boy with beautiful blue eyes, a young couple who clearly imparted this cutie with his good looks, and a fantastic atmosphere for setting up. The dining room had beautiful windows on three sides that I augmented on one side with a continuous studio light to provide directional lighting. The house also had perfect wood floors that I couldn’t pass up for a few shots. I wish I could take those floors with me to every shoot instead of my floordrop! I really enjoyed my time getting to know the family, including Oliver’s uncle who was really intrigued by the crazy amount of stuff that I plopped down in the middle of his home. As it turns out, I would have a lot of time to hang out with the family as this was my longest session on record.
So at this point you’re probably guessing that my intro means little Oliver here was not very happy with the photographic process. You would be right. He made us all work for it over the process of about 5 hours in total. Normally a calm little lad, his parents learned what I often tell families of newborns – they are usually the exact opposite during a photo session than they are at home. Maybe at one month old he was hitting an unexpected growth spurt. Maybe he was out of his element. Maybe, just maybe, he was messing with me. Typically we can reschedule to try for better luck, but this adorable new family was in from out of town. Oliver’s parents were such genuinely warm and wonderful people from the moment I met them. I wanted desperately to get them the shots they desired – so we took the time to get it. After a break for lunch, we had more success. Turns out Oliver was more of an afternoon baby. Lucky for him, he was a gorgeous little guy and I loved his awake moments best of all. The sequence where he discovers his hand is still one of my favorite newborn moments. As the sun started slipping in the sky we called it good with the end of the family photos. Sometimes these incredible little people give me a run for my money, but where there is patience and love we succeed in telling the story of them. There was certainly a lot of both between all of us on set that day.
Look at him mocking me! That’s okay. These ones are pure gold…
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