Trip to Fairyland: Baby Girl Turns One

When a baby turns one, a special occasion photo shoot is definitely in order.  It's a huge accomplishment for child and parents to reach this milestone.  The beautiful baby days are almost over and the rip-roaring toddler era is about to begin.  In this magical space between those is the one year old baby:  full of personality and brimming with possibility.

I'd had my eye set on a lovely location for months but never properly scouted it.  I would drive by it at different times of the day (on my way to Costco, as it were) and look out at this perfect hilly slope where all sorts of nice weeds were growing in abundance.  When I loaded the whole family up one evening (racing the sun for that perfect late afternoon light) and we headed to the spot we found it a) awash in harsh sunlight and b) strictly forbidden to trespass and in full view of the world.

The location seemed out, but the photo shoot was on.  My husband and I quickly ran down the list of nearby spots where we could a) find nice lighting and b) legally take pictures.  We decided on a cozy spot at Beaver Brook.  It proved to be just the right place.  There was the perfect amount of sparkly sunlight streaming through the trees, a little meadow of blue flowers, and a big ol' tree in the background for the brothers to climb.  Our own little magical spot to preserve this perfect moment in baby girl's life.

I love it when simple props frame a face and bring out a touch of specialness.  The dress was a gift from family (and they got my taste spot on!  Well done!), the flower crown was handmade in several evenings from scraps of vintage fabrics (and boy am I amazed she actually kept it on for any amount of time!), and the fairy wings were on the dollar aisle at Target.  The chair was a gift from myself to myself a couple years ago, an antique made locally in New England.

 (a lot) more photos on through here.

Counting in Days, Newborn Session

There is something so precious about asking how old a baby is and hearing the response in days.  This baby was just ten days old when I got to meet him and try to capture some of that newborn sparkle.

We had some nice late afternoon light in through the windows of my house for the session, which was really pleasant to work with.

This sweet little boy was not in the mood to cooperate for a sleeping picture (perhaps the fact that I had three loud children (my own) running around in and out contributed to that!) but with a lot of patience and time and lots of special mommy-love he finally calmed down for a few quick snaps of the camera shutter.

I'll include one of my favorites of the session at the end to show how most of the hour was spent.  I just love the energy and determination of a small baby crying.  Does that sound strange?  Well, in any case, it makes the tranquility of the sleepy pictures all that more well-earned and peaceful!

Want to see some more pictures?  You know you do!

The Transformation: Darkroom/Lightroom

 

When I was a teenager my mom encouraged me to take a darkroom film developing class from the continuing education community classes.  For one evening a week for six weeks or so I was engrossed in the magic of developing pictures.  I loved the process and the tactile experience of revealing an image.  The chemical baths, tweaking the exposure, waiting for the photograph to dry:  I loved it all.  Getting into digital editing has been a long road full of frustration and a lot less of the magic feeling I had when working with film.  I had my DSLR camera for about a year and a half before I was brave enough to move to using RAW files.  Now, of course, I wish I'd started out with this format.  With a lot of practice and trial and error finally some of the magic quality of editing photos is back.  I love the control of the RAW file.   Even a picture that perhaps would have ended up in the garbage before (though honestly it wouldn't have because I was too afraid to throw anything away in case I never got anything better) can be redeemed with a little swipe of the mouse here and a bit of digital tweaking there.  I leave most of my photos relatively lightly edited.  I don't have the time or confidence to go deep into the editing of a single photo.  I think that's for the better.  Also, in case you're interested, I mostly use the little editing software in iPhoto.  Every now and then I'll pull a special photo into Photoshop to play around with the options there.  I have yet to fully tackle the learning curve that is Photoshop . . .

So here is a photo I was this close to deleting off my camera when I first took it and saw it on the little playback screen.  Luckily I've mostly trained myself to pause and wait a minute.  I can just as well delete it later so why not just keep shooting and worry about removing images later.  I'd been shooting from a different angle with different light and had not adjusted my settings at all.  This was kind of my test run photo (which usually I do delete right away) but the expression was sweet enough to hold off on deleting immediately.  The image is a little under exposed for my liking, making it muddy and dark. 

Pull up the histogram and let's get editing!

click through to see the magic transformation!

Color or Black-and-White?

Every now and then I run across a picture that I truly can decide whether I like it color or black and white.  Often a picture just looks best one way or the other.  Usually I happen to prefer the classic, timeless quality of b&w.  It can also (I'm giving away my best secret!) hides a lot of imperfections in a picture.  So of course most of my imperfect photos are lent an added charm by switching up the tonality.  I honestly think most pictures I take look better in b&w.  So when a picture looks good in color I keep it in color because I feel I lucked out on the settings I had set and the light I was using, etc. 

When a photo is lovely in both I am pleasantly surprised.  But then I have to make a choice!  Which one?  Just one? 

Here is where the indulgence of digital, never mind the vanity space of blog-world, let me get away with both!

A recent shoot with baby sister yielded several nice shots (more to come!) and for the sake of this discussion I am posting both color and black and white versions to enjoy.  Feel free to vote which ones you like better!  I'll take that into account when the time comes to make the final decision of which to actually print.  (Although at thirteen cents a print it's not that hard to print both, too!  How did people do it way back when with expensive film?)

click through for more color versus b&w photos

Sometimes One's All You Need

I take so many pictures.  Like, thousands.  Every month.  Of just my own kids.  More, if I'm taking pictures for friends.  Eeps, that is a lot of pictures going in and out of my camera!

I have to say none-too-humbly that a lot of those pictures are actually pretty good.  I do delete a good number from every "roll" as well, but the indulgent thing about digital is that you can just keep clicking and there are bound to be good ones in there somewhere.  I've passed the point where I need to click madly and desperately away and cross-my-fingers-hope for a great shot.  For some time I have been able to more skillfully capture what I intend to.  But there will always (I hope) be the thrill of getting one I didn't necessarily expect or even deserve.

And sometimes, even in a roll of hundreds of perfectly presentable pictures, you just need one.  Often it's fun to see every little expression flitting across a face.  Particularly if it is a cherished little child's face.  Especially if it is a beloved baby who seems to grow from one minute to the next and each one is so precious and fleeting.

Yet, a single picture can be just as nice in some ways.  You linger more, look closer and sink deeper.

I'm not saying these pictures of my kids are the best pictures ever taken, ever in their whole lives.  But, for one day, in one day, I got three close-ups of each of my sweetest creations.  It was a good day for this mama behind the camera.

Baby in Bonnet and Beads

I could just take pictures of this cute baby all day long, no special props or outfits necessary.  However, dressing up in some vintage bonnets and mama's beads make the perfect excuse for an afternoon photo shoot!  I love this baby girl's smiles.

Using a large scarf as a backdrop was a fun complement to the lustrous blue of the beads.  I think I may experiment a little more in future with backdrops made spontaneously from things around the house.

for more pics of baby girl click through

Smiley Baby, Spontaneous Success

This baby is one of the happiest of my acquaintance.  The fact that she's my own doesn't bias me in the slightest! She is such a happy, content little spirit and the light in her eyes is truly intoxicating.

This session was incredibly spontaneous.  I was sitting with my daughter on my lap in our living room one afternoon and saw the gorgeous afternoon light stream through the window on to a painting we have propped against a wall.  I plopped baby girl down in front of the painting and clicked away.  The session lasted all of seven minutes, with the light constantly changing.  It was dynamic and so exciting to try and capture some great smiles as quickly as possible!

click through for more photos