As many newbie photographers do, in the early days of my business I was just trying to find my way of sorts. Just like learning any craft, you spend endless hours feeling a bit overwhelmed with the plethora of information and ‘stuff’ to learn. For photography, not only do you have to learn how to work your camera, you are also learning Photoshop and post processing AND trying to learn what will be your style in both. You are just photographing anything and everything….thinking that you have to be good at it all in order to be successful. At least for me, the process was fun, but yet so mind boggling. Throw into the mix the whole business side of things…choosing what your ‘brand’ will look like and how you will structure your pricing….and then how you will actually GET business and KEEP it.
It’s a lot of ‘stuff’…..it’s no wonder so many photographers do not succeed in the business. 🙁
Anyway….when I began my business I easily got pulled into shooting the way I thought my clients wanted me to shoot. At the time, I thought to be successful shooting kids and babies, I would have to have a huge arsenal of props and ‘things’ for each session. I started my collection only to realize that this was not at all the types of photographs I wanted to take. Even thought I could take these types of photographs, I simply did not want to. They didn’t do it for me. Each to their own. Certainly there is a huge…and I mean huge market for the studio, very stylized kind of photo sessions, but I didn’t care about that. It took only about two years or so for me to make the decision that I was going to get rid of all the ‘fluff’ in the pics. I am not saying there is anything wrong with fluff….but it’s just not for me. I currently have three bowls for newborn sessions. That is basically the extent of what I would call ‘props’. I have a few simple crochet hats and a very tiny selection of hair accessories, that are very small such as the one in this series, but basically that is it…well, not counting the countless blankets and wraps, but I don’t consider those props. I like to use the wraps so that I there is no need to take off the babies diaper during the session and I think they look pretty without being distracting.
Why am I even saying all this?
If you are looking for a newborn or child photographer who has lots of props or fancy ‘set ups’, let me tell you that I am most certainly NOT the photographer for you. I have some lovely photographers that I will gladly refer you to if that’s what you are looking for. When I photograph your newborn, I want to focus on your baby and your baby only. I want to create photographs that will be timeless in their simplicity. Yes, there will be some simple ‘posing’ during in particular the newborn sessions, but more of babies in a natural state. Some babies will fall into certain poses very naturally. There are some poses that certain babies will have nothing of…I am not going to force it. Now I may try it patiently a couple of times, but if your baby does not seem comfortable, we will simply move on to the next one. 🙂 And furthermore, I am not going to majorly Photoshop your baby/child’s skin. I will take care of some imperfections, but your if you are wanting your baby/child’s skin to look like they have makeup on…I am not the photographer for you. I like to keep your baby/child looking as much like they look in real life.
And recently, mostly due to the birth of our own baby boy, I am going to make a point in every newborn session to get at least one series of photographs with your baby awake and bright eyed. So if you are looking for some beautiful, simple, classic photographs of your new arrival without any fluff (such as these) then I am totally your photographer!
Message me. <3
{ birth, newborn, maternity, baby, child & family photography in Houston, The Heights, Montrose, Garden Oaks, Bellaire, West University, River Oaks, Rice Village, The Woodlands and Cypress, Texas }
Come follow me on Google+
Houston Newborn Photographer
