Brand New Baby Boy!

The images of this newborn are as new as they come.

This little guy is less than two days old.

You may remember this mommy and daddy from one of our recently published pregnancy sessions. Living in the St. Louis area, they commissioned our services to photograph their firstborn just after delivery. We have been a part of this couple's lives since photographing their wedding so we gladly jumped at the opportunity to make the trip and join in the celebration of their new family member.

There is always something surreal about a mommy and daddy's first days with their newborn in the hospital. Those of you who have had children know what I mean--it's almost as if time stands still those first few days. You get to experience your newborn at their smallest; enjoying all the wrinkles on their fingers and toes from being in the womb. Then it happens...as soon as you leave the hospital they seem to immediately start growing and changing--they lose their little wrinkles as they begin to get chubbier in their cheeks and grow fuller in their body. Newborn babies change so rapidly that within a week of photographing their hospital portraits, they look completely different; which is why newborn hospital sessions are one of my favorites to document.

I just love telling the story of their first days in this world...detailing all their little baby parts and items such as their hospital bracelets.

I have never seen a newborn look as though they were smiling. As you can see, this little fellow felt right at home with his parent's touch.

I was so elated to have had the opportunity to be a part of a celebration such as this. I couldn't resist asking the parents to take my picture with this precious little guy.

Thank you so much for inviting me to be among the first to meet the new addition of your family!

A Mind of His Own

This little guy was so cute and so funny! He definitely had a mind of his own and knew exactly what he wanted to do, or more appropriately, what he didn't want to do--he didn't want to be on our background.

As you can see, he was a slippery little guy. We were trying to capture a portrait of him and his mommy but as soon as we would get him on her lap, he'd slip right down to freedom.

(We were thoroughly entertained throughout the session and were able to capture some amazing images of them together. We found that we could keep him in one location if we entertained him with his favorite baseball and book.)

Here is another one of this little guy's bright ideas. :o) He didn't want to have anything to do with sitting on my stool for his portrait--he insisted on standing. You can see his parent's hands stabilizing him. What a great representation of how his parents will steady him throughout his life. I love how this image turned out and the symbolism behind it.
He LOVED reading--this was the one thing we found that would keep him entertained.

The Brains Behind the Bronze

For those of you who have never met her, I would like to introduce you to my new assistant Katia (kay-sha)--the "brains behind the bronze." She began training to work with us in the fall of last year and has subsequently taken over our Image Design department. Katia oversees all of the images from our sessions. And, as you can tell from the images on the blog, her artwork has developed phenomenally.
Not only is she an amazing assistant...she is also very brave. :o) During one of our recent snow falls we both had a harebrained idea to do something spontaneous; Katia dressed up in this gorgeous short formal gown and we braved the freezing temperatures to take photographs of her in the snow.

It was definitely worth it--the images turned out beautiful.

Giving really does feel better than getting...

I wish those of you that donated diaper and food items at our recent Santa event could have gone with me when I dropped off your items. It was such a great feeling to be giving to a local organization such as the Phelps County Community Partnership whose number one goal is to equip young mothers.

They were such a fun group. When I dropped off the items I failed to notify anyone that I would want to take a picture for my blog. (They were all in cleaning clothes getting their offices ready for the new year.) Although they requested no close ups--I can't blame them for that--they jumped right into the idea without hesitating.