Newborn Pictures at Home

The concept is so startling at first.  Do family pictures, or do baby pictures, or wait, both family and newborn pictures, IN MY HOUSE?!

And I get it, I really do.  As moms we think of our homes as our "office".  You know, our job that starts at dawn and doesn't let us go until well after bedtime.  Unless of course you're on the swing-swing shift, which means you're on duty every 2-3 hours, 24-7.  Ick, I think I need a Coke just writing that sentence.

You rarely think of your home as a place for pretty pictures.  It's the place where jam is on the counter, laundry is piled on the couch, and your list of to-do's is a mile long.  Why in the world would we do our family pictures there?

I'll tell you why, because it's actually way easier!  Like so much easier than picking that perfect location, getting everyone ready during the grumpiest hour of the day at the same time, driving 30 minutes and then rushing to beat the setting sun.

At home, whoever's ready first gets to go first.  Mom gets to finish doing her hair because each kid is having a blast showing their new friend their favorite toys.  Is the whole house clean?  Heck no!  Just that one beautiful room with gorgeous light.  Oftentimes it's the master bedroom.  It's the middle of the morning, when everyone's at their happiest point.  The kids actually smile their real smiles, and even Dad is just way more relaxed and chill because he knows he's only moments away from that actual fun thing he does on Saturdays.

And then you see the photos and you realize, you love seeing your favorite blanket in the photos, and that photo of your favorite person on the nightstand.  You really love how your boys are all cuddled around you on your bed and you realize, that's exactly what I want to remember.  Forever and ever.

I remember the blur

I remember.  I remember leaving for the hospital to have my second, thinking I was leaving a baby boy at home.  I came home 3 days later, newborn in tow and realized "He's huge!  He's practically full grown!"

Jonah was 21 months when Marcus joined our family.  Jo became a Big Boy instantly.  And I became outnumbered.  How do you diaper two bums when one of them runs away?  How do you do anything when a toddler needs you just as much as the newborn?

So life became a blur.  I honestly don't remember much about the first two years of Marc's life.  And because that was before the age of cell phone cameras, there aren't too many photos around to help me remember.

I wish I remembered the little stuff.  Cuddling on the couch, playing trains, learning letters.  I know it happened but the memory, it's blurry.

So when Christy contacted me, 7 months along with baby #2, I knew how important this newborn photo shoot could be.  I knew this day at least, wouldn't be a blur.

Real.

Lisa, the Momma of this great family, isn't anything but real and authentic.  She doesn't have time or energy for fake or posed or playing a facade, and trying to be something she's not.  Lisa is Lisa, and her family, well they are real.  And because of that, they're pretty dang great.

I have had the distinct pleasure of documenting her family for a few years now.  We make a little bit of photography magic every time.  She trusts me to find the love amidst the chaos, and that trust allows me to push harder in my technique every time.

This is an in-home newborn session.  This is lifestyle photography.  This is documenting the modern family.  Put any label you want on it.  It's still real.  And because of that, it allows all of us to be little more real.

The best kind of newborn photography {Gilbert AZ}

Does this story sound familiar?  The pregnancy which you thought would take forever, went by in a blink of an eye and all the sudden she's here.  And then all the sudden, she's three weeks old and the photos of her only exist on a cell phone, because hello?!  There's three other kiddos running around and their world has been rocked too!

That's where lifestyle newborn photography comes in.  A super nice photographer comes to your home.  She plays with your kids while Baby finishes her nap and eats her next meal.  Instead of growls from the three year old, you hear "Take my picture too!".  Everyone has fun for an hour and then she leaves, and you wonder "Was that really family pictures?  That was too easy." 

Even better.  Those are photographs that you wish you could take while you're busy living life.  You try to burn them in your brain:  how your son looks with his favorite Superman cape on, how your daughter looks twirling in the sunlight, how your oldest boy scrunches his eyebrows when he's playing Star Wars on the piano.  Those are the scenes that you feel slipping through your fingers as time marches on.

But now they're caught.  Now you have them forever and ever.  You know, teenage blackmail if needed.  But more likely, that wedding video when Superman is all grown up and wearing a much different kind of suit.

 

 

 

 This photo shoot was done as assignment for an awesome class I took through Chic Critique forum with the amazing Lindsay Silsby (Pied Piper Photography) and Summer Murdock Photography. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published? Check!

I am so excited to check one thing off my bucket list this year.  I have been published in Denim & Grace magazine.  It's a publication for other photographers, and frankly pretty small.  Also, mine is one of the "filler" images, used in between the real articles about much better photographers than me. 

But I was included nonetheless, and I'm pretty dang excited!  My name is up there with Freshly Wed and Lisa Holloway, see?!

What image was it, you ask?  Pretty much my best photo of my entire year. 

 

 

Thank you so much Palfreeman family.  You brought the magic and you made my year a success! 

 

 

P Family - Newborn Lifestyle Photography

Three boys.  That's a kick in the pants, no matter how you look at it.  But she's the perfect mom for them.  She probably doesn't see it because we rarely see our own strengths.  But she is so patient and soft.  She sees beauty.  She sees how precious they are and revels in it. 

Their family, their home, their story at this time in their lives, matters.