Beauty in the Details
On April 22, 2020 we had a new addition to my family. We welcomed Maximiliano, my newest nephew, into the world. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we weren’t able to get him into my little home studio until he was one month old. I was worried that I would miss getting his newborn pictures while he was still holding the fetal position, but in the end I was pleased with the outcome of our session.
Newborns had never really been my specialty so I was a bit nervous. I thought back to five years ago when Aaron, my eldest nephew, was born. I remember for the first two weeks, he was in the NICU so most of my newborn pictures of him were in his hospital bassinet. I captured a few wide shots with him in the bassinet but ultimately liked the close ups I got of him.
Cut to one month later when Aaron was home and I had my Canon T3 with only an on camera flash to capture the little nugget’s milestone. I put down my mom’s favorite black cardigan over a basket that we had lying around (creativity at it’s finest). I had found some cute Pinterest inspiration, and got to work. Immediately after removing his diaper and laying him onto the cardigan, Aaron had peed all over our makeshift set and me.
So, when I decided to take on Max’s newborn pictures, I saw it as a chance to grow. In the past five years I’d worked at a few studios where I had to take my fair share of newborn photos. It was definitely a challenge even five years later. If you didn’t know, babies move, like a lot. So I would put Max’s cute little hands in position, pick up my camera, turn around to shoot and…..
Cue the crying, flailing baby. It took a lot of patience and a lot of working with his Mom and Nini to capture him at his best. But once we got the lighting right, and the baby calm we were ready to go. Here I thought taking photos of my own nephew would be a cake walk. But man, was it just as hectic as any other newborn session. Luckily I learned to focus on the details when he was crying or when he was being calmed down. I mean, who doesn’t love those cute lil’ baby toes?!
While Mom and Dad may not want to really be apart of the session, I still found ways to incorporate them as well. Most parents decline being apart of the session because they didn’t bring a good outfit or didn’t do their makeup that day. And I mean, they probably haven’t slept a full night since their little nugget was born. However, with my sister-in-law, I found it super cute that she had Max wearing a St. Jude bracelet that matched with the ones that she was wearing. I tried to capture that, but ended up liking a cropped version of the shot more. It just shows a sweet moment between the two.
I’m just so excited to be an Auntie to this sweet little angel. I can’t wait to continue capturing some of his milestones and having him be my model with his big brother whenever I want to get some extra cute shots in.
Welcome to the world, Maximiliano!
