The next MN Birth Photographers meeting is January 22nd at Common Roots. I reserved the back room from 10-noon, so we will have plenty of space and time. Are you not a member and interested in learning more? Feel free to join us and see what out group is all about. Looking forward to seeing you there!
You won the mini shoot! How exciting would it be to get that note in your inbox? Well that is exactly what this mama got. I met her at the St. Francis Baby Fair were she signed up to win the mini session I was giving away at the fair.
We were hoping for a fun “snowy” session, however November lacked snow, so instead we got fall leaves.
I think someone is pretty excited about having a baby brother soon. Congratulations to this lovely family and best wishes on your new addition!
It is always tricky around the holidays to take on new clients. I wonder if it will mean I will end up at the hospital rather than with my family Christmas Eve or Christmas day. What will it mean for me to postpone the holidays with my husband and children? Will they understand? Does it make me a bad mom if I admit that I would be OK with it? That I feel such joy being present and capturing a birth even if it interferes with family life?
These were some of the thoughts rattling around in my head when I met with this couple at the coffee shop for our initial consultation. I knew the due date was within a couple days of Christmas. . .and I wondered if I should let it matter. But with births I have learned that things tend to work out with my need to intervene, so I wasn’t surprised when I received the call that labor had started almost two weeks before Christmas. I was able to witness a beautiful birth with an awesome, loving couple, amazing doulas and a supportive hospital staff AND spend Christmas with my family uninterrupted. Life is good!
Lots of love to Tabitha and her moms! It was a beautiful day.
Last year I was able to capture the peaceful home water birth of this sweet little boy. His mama is a doula herself as well as childbirth educator and co-founder of BabyLove. Along with midwife Aly Folin and her team from North Star Midwifery, this baby was greeted by dad,big-sister, grandma, an aunt and friends.
Things I loved about this birth:
- The look of peace on mom’s face as she labored in the tub
- Dad supporting mom in labor – even getting in the birth tub himself
- Pictures of the baby being born into the water and emerging from water into his mom’s arms
- Mom’s face after the birth
- The delight on big sister’s face when his saw her brother
Thank you to Brittany and her family for inviting me to share in such a special day!
In the previous post I mentioned how Fresh48 sessions are great for those who choose not to have their birth photographed. They are also wonderful for families whose birth I have captured.
Baby Ansel was born in the wee hours of the morning. Twelve hours after leaving the hospital I returned to capture Ansel’s big sisters meeting him for the first time and the first moments of this new, larger family. Like the previous post, you can see how these sessions are different than your typical newborn session. There isn’t a lot of posing, rather I am capturing the candid moments of an event that will never be repeated for this family.
Fresh48 sessions are a newer session offering for me. It is great for people who would prefer not to have a photographer at their birth but would like “fresh” pictures of their baby – fresher than newborn pictures. Unlike your traditional hospital pictures, Fresh48 sessions are completely relaxed and for the most part, un-posed. The aim is to capture & preserve memories of your family as they are, welcoming this new addition.
Fresh48 sessions take place wherever you give birth. In this case, Amaya was born at home. When I received the call that she arrived, I made plans to go to meet her the next morning. When I got to the house, I met dad and the energetic new big brother with the best hair. Yes – I had major hair envy when I saw him! You can see why:
With pleasure I got to work with baby Cameron and his parents in their home. As you can see he was a super sleeper for me. He even gave me the biggest smile. Welcome sweet one!
Julianna’s mom wrote last week to schedule her daughter’s one year pictures. ONE YEAR?!?!? She’s one already???? How did that happen? Seeing as I hadn’t yet blogged her newborn session, I decided I had better get on that!
Her mom and I have talked about this – so I am not sharing anything she doesn’t know – but Julianna was one of my more challenging newborns of 2012. We sailed through the “lifestyle” photos in the beginning without issue. However once it was time for her to fall asleep and let me pose her, that’s when difficulty started.
It took a couple of hours and me coming back the next day for us to realize that I was only going to get one pose out of Julianna per nursing. So it went a little like this – mom nursed her to sleep, we would get her on the beanbag, bowl, etc in a pose, I would snap the picture, I would try to move her to the next pose, she would wake and cry. Repeat.
Despite the difficulties, the pictures from the session were beautiful. I couldn’t be happier to have worked with such a lovely family. And I am happy to say that mom reports that Julianna is a much happier babe.
Baby William’s mom was so sweet in writing me at 39 weeks wanting a maternity session. She joked it was a nesting thing! Sadly I was about to board a plane to go to a workshop to sharpen my skills in newborn posing/photography followed by a family vacation. By the time I got back, this little one was almost two weeks old, so I had the pleasure of taking his newborn photos.
I still remember the morning. It was cold and slick from a snowfall. I questioned why it was that I do on location newborn shoots as I lugged all my gear up the steps to their home. Being in the city, in St. Paul, the plows hadn’t quite been through to clear everything away.
However once inside I was reminded why I do what I do. Baby William was all snuggled up with his mom. It was nice and toasty in the house – perfect for a newborn shoot. Grandma was there too loving on her new grandson. Having just returned from my workshop, I got to use my new skills. I simply love the results!
In the wee hours of the night I received the call to come to the hospital. I was excited for several reasons. Mom was a nurse and knew the birthing process well. It was likely to be a water birth – my first captured in a hospital setting. The couple were very down to earth and kind. I was excited to be able to capture the birth of their third child and first son.
Side note – when the midwife walked in I swore I knew her from somewhere, but couldn’t instantly place her. When I was about to leave, it hit me. She had been the midwife at my second birth seven years earlier. Small world!
