Everyone, meet C! It’s his first birthday, and as you can tell, he’s quite excited about it!!! C was a total ham for the camera. I have never done a first birthday session for a child so quickly in my life. We set up, he started smiling, I snapped away, and then we moved on to the cake smashing fun! It was a great pleasure to be able to capture these moments for C’s family.

Happy Birthday little one!

Meet Baby J! He is the latest addition to a wonderful family here in the Northern Virginia area. This is also the start of my obsession with the striped blue fabric. I just love how the lines draw your eyes in to the baby. I’m tossing away the crazy props, baskets, and other nonsense that distract the viewer from the baby. Pure and simple newborn photography. That’s the way I like it! J gave me a lot of great eye contact when he became a little more alert toward the end of the session. Hopefully he’ll be a little ham for the camera as he gets older!

Sometimes I have to step out of my comfort zone in order to ensure that the little ones are happy during a photo session. At this time of year, the best time to shoot is an hour before sunset, so around 7:30-8pm. That’s crazy in toddler-land! An older child would probably be alright, but kids under 4 tend to melt down around that time of day. As such, shooting in the bright morning sun can be quite a challenge! You have to face the proper direction, the kids need to somewhat cooperate, and you need to stick to the shadows to make sure you don’t have bright spots on your face that distract the portrait or make you squint. That said, it can create some stunning imagery. Bright and airy portraits are very nicely done in the morning hours! Plus with the humidity, you have a nice background haze that gives it an ethereal look.

I had the pleasure of photographing this family during the 2010 holiday season. I’m so glad that they came back for 2011 portraits to celebrate their daughter’s 3rd birthday! Our first session was sadly rained out, but I think it worked for the best. We tried in the morning, and we succeeded! I think these are the most natural smiles I have ever gotten from this age group. Letting kids play instead of forcing them into poses is always the best route. It may not be chain-studio-cheese-posing, but it will be more natural and capture them in the moment.

I had a lot of fun capturing the seventh day of life for this handsome little boy. Mr. C was a VERY good sleeper! I think he only woke up for five minutes total and that was for a short feeding and then back to his close-ups. You couldn’t ask for a better baby! I hope he is keeping up the good sleeping for his parents’ sake!