I just wanted to write a quick post about the wedding I shot right before Christmas. It was for a co-worker of mine. It was not her first marriage, and the story here really was in how important her children were during the big day. She really wanted them to feel like they were a part of it, making the transition into a new family unit more cohesive. It was really quite sweet and I wish them all the best. Below are a handful of my favorites from the day. I do love winter weddings- they have such beautiful colors.

The more relaxed nature of this wedding allowed me to actually set up my lights for the portraits and spend a little time with my subjects. I am happy with some of the results.

I’ll close with a few photos from our lovely Christmas visit with Evan’s family here in New Orleans. We met our new nephew, William, and enjoyed the company of our other nephew, Benjamin, both of Evan’s sister and their husbands, grandmother, Aunt Kay and several cousins- all hosted by Evan’s parents. It was a wonderful holiday.

Right before Christmas, I had a wonderful afternoon photographing Benjamin at four months. It has been so much fun working with this lovely family. I went to nursing school with Melanie, where we had mutual friends, but as we were not in the same class until the last semester, we did not know each other really well. Since that time, I have to date, photographed their wedding, their maternity photos, their newborn photos and Benjamin’s four month photos. It has been such a pleasure getting to know this growing family and being there to document so many important events in their lives.

First, here are a few highlights from their wedding.

They were the first couple I ever shot maternity photos for. I approached it much like any portrait session, trying to capture real emotions between my subjects. I also experimented with some fun scenes with children’s books and picnics. I used some of my own props as well as props the couple brought to give a personal touch to the photos. I used flashes mounted on tripods for some real outdoor portraiture, which was a good experience and one I definitely need to practice more often. The day was a bit challenging as it rained a lot, but thanks to a happy couple and artificial light, you would never know looking at the photos. Another lesson and learning to make do with the conditions you have.

When Benjamin, named after his father, was born, they contacted me about doing newborn photos. This, again, was another genre I had not delved into yet. I obliged and I am forever thankful to them for letting me expand my skill set and portfolio through our shoots. Working with babies is quite a challenge. To say I have never photographed newborns is not completely true. In college I volunteered at the hospital as a newborn baby photographer. This, however, consisted of placing the baby on a raised platform with a camera mounted above, trying to make the baby laugh and then snapping the photo from the computer. Photography skills wise it was pretty mindless, but I suppose I did get to learn some about working with babies.

They are delicate, but malleable at the newborn age, which lends to creative positions and their tiny features are fun to capture in detail shots. I set up my large paper backdrop in their living room and made a personal studio with a two light setup and seamless grey background. I had to drive my husbands car because the tube is so long. 

When they wanted to incorporate the LSU helmet, since they are big LSU fans, putting the baby inside it was much better than next to it. I just experimented with a lot of different options and in the end I was pretty happy with the results.

I also wanted to get some good photos of the parents with their new child, as I knew I could get some genuine emotions. The love of new moms and dads toward their children melts my heart.

You learn certain tricks, like on Melanie’s suggestion, to take the naked photos last so that the baby would not get too fussy.

 Finally, my latest shoot of this family did not include the father as he was working, but I got some sweet photos of baby Benjamin by himself and with his mother. I used Christmas decorations from around their house to build a Christmas scene, brought a milk crate for a fun prop and took some photos in his baptism gown as he was recently baptized and they didn’t get any photos of him by himself. I also did a few with the helmet again to demonstrate how much he has grown.

It always makes me feel good to have repeat customers and I think the images get better as I get to know the people more. I look forward to continuing to work with them.