Brittany is a friend of mine, married to my cousin, in fact. And they recently had twin girls! She called me and asked me to do a newborn session for her when the babies were about 3 weeks old. Typically, a newborn session is best done before the baby is 11 days old. For several reasons…but one of the reasons is they are still in that sleepy newborn state…normally. So the fact that they were a little bit older and moving around more, and the fact that there was two babies instead of one. Well, I was a little nervous! Also, the way I like to shoot newborns is in the home, in the Momma’s arms, in their space, etc. I don’t do a lot of props and posing – I do some – but I like to capture the home and the surroundings and the baby among all of it. Brittany and her family (she and Mark had two little boys already) are living in a small house while they build a new home. They don’t even have all of their furniture and belongings in the house. It is an older house that is a bit dated, and Brittany was just not feeling it. After talking about it we decided she would bring the girls to my house for a few pictures of them together and then (I sorta had to talk her into this, thankfully she trusted me!) we would go back to her house and get a few of her and the girls together. Temporary bed, paneled walls and all. But, as a photographer, I feel strongly about capturing each phase of life. Even the parts we don’t love, or even if it’s just temporary, to me, it’s beautiful. Really, it is.
Now, I am gonna keep it real here. We started the session at my house and I am not posting a single image from that part. Why? Because I failed. I didn’t really get any great shots of both girls together. It was hard. So hard. I learned quickly that to photograph a newborn you need at least two sets of hands to get them into any kind of pose together. And even then it is still tough. But, when we went over to her house, I easily captured images I love. Images I feel that they will look back on and cherish and talk about that tiny house with four kids packed in it. Images that tell the story of where they are right now and what life looks like. It looks like love and sweet babies in Momma’s arms and big brothers leaning on the bed to look and eating corn dogs. This is life, and this is how I love to capture it.
Now, as much as I adored those images I felt terrible that I failed at getting at least several good shots of just Lorelei and Juliet together. I told my photog friend Molly how nervous I was to even look at the images and how I felt like I didn’t get any great ones of them together. She offered to help me if Brittany was willing to bring the girls over again.
Now, Molly is a fabulous newborn photographer. She captures newborns so beautifully, she shoots a totally different style than me. Props, backdrops, etc. But I love it. I feel that each style is beautiful in it’s own way. Just like each photographer has a different way of capturing things, it can all be beautiful. Just in different ways. Molly’s newborn sessions always make me swoon and when she offered to help me I knew that together, we could get some great shots of Lorelei and Juliet.
So, I made that awkward phone call and told Brittany how I felt. Thankfully she was totally understanding and said “Bobbie, I asked you to do this and I want you to love your work. And, I want pictures of my girls together. Yes I’ll come over again!”
Thank you Brittany!
This time we set up at Molly’s house and it was a success. Molly, thank you…over and over again!
notice she has the camera turned around backwards?!
