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It was kind of like being 29 again. There I was, traveling, just me, the passport, a credit card, a camera and a backpack. No kids. No 15 juice boxes. No piles of Things Designed to Keep Preschoolers From Kicking the Seat in Front of Them (TM). So, I show up in my favorite city, all cool and kid free, as a giant pimple blossoms on the side of my face.

Did I say it was like 29? Make that more like 14. Really. It was, and is, so absurdly gargantuannly huge Brian asked over dinner if I had been bitten by a mosquito. Sigh. And, I did tell you Heather was chic right? And her studio was chic. And I, I was not, shall we say, chic.

Then, there I was in this fabulously cool city and at the end of each day working I was so darn tired the idea of strolling down to ANYTHING other than to collapse in my hotel room was just an exhausting proposition. So I didn’t. Because that is how cool and fun I am.

I did do a little shooting, and a lot of note taking. The nature of a newborn workshop is that the teacher does all the baby posing as, after all, so very very few parents of newborns are all that happy with the idea of 10 strangers arranging their baby. I joke that “all I do is point the camera and push the button” but in this case it’s really quite true as the posing part is the most difficult part of newborn photography. However, this little guy, at all of three days old, is really too cute not to share.

And, my standard baby reminder: if you want newborn pictures BOOK EARLY. I will shoot “Simply Babies” style pictures up through 1 month of age but if you really want newborn shots the baby has to be under 10 days. That 3-10 day old window is the best time. Book while you are pregnant.

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Our VERY CLOSE runner up, who had more total votes but fewer in the month of April, was Itty Bitty Sleepy Girl. I’ll send you a surprise runner up prize (I mean, you were SO close) so watch the mail for a package later this month!

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I photographed this little beauty on Saturday morning. She was right in the middle of her 3-week growth spurt and made me work for it but time, patience, lots of food, womb sounds and loud shushing resulted in some final sleeping images that are just adorable as well as some great looks of wide eyed wonder.

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Isn’t she just the sweetest thing you have ever seen? The sweetness of newborns never stops amazing me. She was a sleeper, and the last of my Fresh Faces models. I’ve had babies who couldn’t be woken up for love, money or even food and babies who couldn’t be coaxed to sleep even in an 85 degree room with full tummies. That’s one thing you always have to remember about photographing newborns – you just have to go with the flow.

Now this little sweetie was older than I usually like to do newborns; she was over 3 weeks. I like to schedule them in that 4-7 day range as that, usually, makes for sleepy babies who still curl up into adorable little balls. Once they get a little older the shoot can be harder as they are more alert, less, well, bendy and 3 weeks can be a very difficult age as that 3-week newborn growth spurt can result in a baby who wants to eat 20 hours out of the day. As you can undoubtedly tell from her picture she was, despite her advanced age of 3 weeks, quite happy to sleep.

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Newborn portraits are such a delight to do. I get to see all the wonder of new life. Sure, I get peed on during most sessions (though not, actually, during this one). And urped on. And now and again I get pooped on, but there is a reason I wear jeans to the sessions and the joy of a little baby is more than worth the many fluids that come out of them. All of which is to say, in the babbly way that lets you know it’s been an interesting day with my twins, that I have the best job in the world.

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One thing I learned when I had babies – you can’t make a baby do anything. You really have to go with the flow and be prepared to follow the child’s lead. So, though I encourage people to look through both the Simply Babies gallery and the Dreams & Stories gallery to let me know about any specific poses they would like to capture the reality is that some babies don’t sleep soundly enough to hang in a sling, some babies won’t lay their heads on their hands and some babies will shriek in fury if they are draped over an arm. Newborn poses are wholly dependent upon the temperament of the baby. It’s part of what makes your baby portrait special to your family – even in the simplest baby sleeping pose you see the personality and characteristics of this new little person, unique, wonderful and wholly his or her own self, even at 7 days old.

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