From my own experience with photographing a lot of babies with Mommy & Daddy Studios, it is crucial to have a warm-up period with baby. Talk to them, interact, even play a game to get baby to understand that your presence is okay. Come down to the child's level, as adults we ofter forget how large we are from the perspective of a baby.
Ever since I have learned and embraced these tools it has been easier to capture natural images. Too often we settle for images that the one hour photo studio down the street will produce rather than breaking free from standard traditional portraits. I also fell victim to this as a brand new mom, still adjusting to everything. It was so easy to take my daughter down the street to have an image of her captured forever in time. But where is that image now? Honestly, I believe it is in a box somewhere. It was not special to me, not as special as the 2 week portrait session I had done with Darrin Ballman (http://www.darrinballman.com/#/pg1/).
Darrin is an amazing photographer, and I thank him for giving me a wealth of knowledge and inspiring me to finally start realizing that my dream of being a full-time photographer could be true. I also thank Darrin for giving me the most gorgeous 2 week old images of my daughter that I could dream of, not to mention the beautiful maternity images he did of me and my husband.
There are ways to push ourselves to new levels and set new trends. The photography industry is one like no other that I have seen. Photographer's go out of their way to help each other out and drive each other to set these new trends and advance our industry together. There is something magical that happens when a parent sees your images of their child. It is that moment; whether it be parents or a new bride and groom, that many of us photographer's live for... the gift of memories and pure joy.
First Birthday Sessions can be unique and non-traditional, as photographer's we have the power to set new trends and to take back our industry from the standardized shoot 3 images and push it out in an hour world.
Today I will conducting an experiment to see the differences behind traditional vs. non-traditional and more importantly, figure out what it is that the parent's react to. Do they favor the standard poses or do they appreciate a new approach to their session?
