I have been photographing babies for almost a decade now, and there’s very little that I have not seen or experienced at our photo studio over the years. I made the decision to focus solely on maternity and newborn photography exclusively about three years ago – and Leah took over photographing all the kiddos over six months of age. Part of the reason we decided that was because we are so booked with shoots these days that there is too much work for one photographer, and secondly because I realized that I love the posing and rhythm of newborn sessions and wanted to focus more of my time to the art.
Newborn photography truly is an artform, one that I have been perfecting and building my skills at for many years. That is one of the things that people sometimes forget when they are looking to hire a photographer for their newborn’s first photo shoot: the photographer’s skill at posing. It is arguably not that difficult to place a baby on a blanket and take a photo of him – however, it is the subtitles of his toes being tucked perfectly under his tushy, a soft expression on his face and the angle captured that elevates a photo to art. It takes a lot of practice to feel comfortable contorting babies into funny positions, and it’s not a skill one can learn quickly. There are a million other things I could go into that differentiate an amateur’s newborn photo from a professionals, like lighting used, quality of lenses, camera sensor quality, editing software, skill of the the re-toucher working on the final product… but maybe you got the message from just that start of a list 🙂
But, what I want to talk about here is how cute the parents of this newborn boy are! I first got to know them at their maternity portrait session at our Pacific Palisades studio – and I got to see firsthand what a sweet and caring husband this dad-to-be was. His wife was close to the end of her pregnancy at our photo session and it was tough for her to get around and pose at the shoot. She was having fun and the photos turned out gorgeously – but every once in a while we could tell that she needed a break, and that’s when her hubby always came to the rescue! He was always doting on her, making sure she sat down, drank water and he was always right there ready with his shoulder for her to lean on. I could tell then that the had a special, loving relationship and would make great parents.
When the baby arrived and they were at our Pacific Palisades studio for the newborn pictures – it was no surprise to me to see that dad was the one changing the baby’s diapers and was still the strong man doting on his wife after her difficult labor. The small challenges they were getting through didn’t impact their good mood and excited spirits about their son’s pictures though! They had been toying with ideas for the baby’s pictures beforehand and trying to come up with a cute way to showcase each of their heritages. Mom is from Japan and dad is from Mexico and so they brought two little bottles of Japanese sake and Mexican tequila to the shoot and we set up a baby size bar for the baby. We then got him to fall asleep on the set and placed the bottles next to him for their sweet, cultural set!
Interested in having our studio that services the Pacific Palisades area photograph your baby? Check out our website www.ThePodPhoto.com and give us a call at 310-391-4500!
