FotoFiferna is still in its infancy, but I have already experienced one of those things that I truly was looking forward to when I started this business, which is photographing a person/family at one stage of their life and then doing so again at another. In this case, I had the privilege of shooting a maternity session with a mom-to-be and her husband and then following it up with a newborn session. This is quite a drastic transition. During the maternity session our mom-to-be was a woman with a belly full of possibilities. She and her husband were anxiously awaiting the birth of their baby boy and I like to think that their decision to have the shoot was in part a result of that anticipatory excitement. I was really happy when they decided to book the newborn session. It was as if my brain was pregnant with ideas and I was anxiously awaiting that date when I could deliver them. I couldn't wait to see/photograph them as parents of the force of nature that would be their newborn baby boy.
This also happened to be my first newborn session and I was grateful for the opportunity to see if my skills would translate to this genre of photography. I planned on shooting it in as much of a documentary style as possible, which for the most part (and to my great pleasure) happened. The initial idea was that we'd do some traditional group shots with the parents and grandparents and then I'd hang around for an hour or two to "document". In the end though, I think their baby wasn't too into the posed shots so what transpired was that he was passed around to various family members and I just took pictures of those interactions. There was also bath time, bottle feeding, plenty of crying, and plenty of soothing going on. Even their cat and dog were able to get in on the action (more to add to my ever growing pet photography portfolio!). All in all, it was a very relaxed session. I tried my best to kind of just blend in, which seemed to naturally occur with conversation, so that everyone present would forget that there was a relative stranger in their house taking pictures. How successful I was at that I don't know, but from my perspective it worked out really well and I was quite happy with the results.
Now that the photos have been edited and the gallery delivered, I think I've caught a bit of the "baby crazies". Only with me they come in the form of wanting more newborn sessions. I can't wait till the next one!
Here's a short slideshow with images from the session. Enjoy!