I don’t really do baby sessions. This is my third one. In fact, babies scare me. They make me really nervous. I’m always afraid to pose or move them for fear that they’ll break into a bajillion pieces… and I have no idea what to do when they cry. Baby photography should really be left up to the experts (newborn photography is really a work of art and the people who do it well are incredibly talented). However, Jen and Nick are our dear friends… and baby Elic is basically our adopted nephew whether his parents like it or not. I’ve told them from the beginning that I’ll be the cool aunt who lets Elic stay up way too late when he stays at our house, feeding him nothing but Skittles and letting him watch the Exorcist. I think Jen and Nick have more or less accepted that at this point.
That all being the case, I gave Jen and Nick a little newborn session for baby Elic shortly after he arrived into the world. He’s a total stud, as you’ll see, and rocks the corduroys as well as Eddie Vedder, despite Nick repeatedly telling me that Elic will never be permitted to play in a band (we’ll see what Uncle Geoff has to say about that). He also has the pensive, serious face of an early 90’s grunge artist… only surrounded by stuffed giraffes instead of Courtney Love. It’s probably for the best.
This picture absolutely cracks me up. So – for those of you to do child portraits – you know that you’ll spend most of the session making goofy faces and sounds and pretty much standing on your head. Will and Ryan could see through my antics and the below picture shows them questioning the particular circus show I was performing at the time.
Ryan modeling his Blue Steel face.
True story: The bear below is none other than Snuggles. Yes, like from the dryer sheet commercials. When I was 5 years old my family took me to some Family Day type thing at the park, but you could enter your name into a contest to win prizes. However, the prizes were totally random (maybe they weren’t… I need my mom to help fill in some of these details), but long story short – I won… a hammer. Yes, the city officials gave a 5 year old a hammer as a door prize. Needless to say, I cried. A lot. Because what I had really wanted was Snuggles… and because what was I going to do with a hammer. So the officials gave in and traded the hammer out for Snuggles, and happily home I went. 20 years later, Snuggles now lives with us in North Carolina and has been re-purposed as a hand puppet for small children I photograph. He’s happy with his new job, and the kids love him. Way to go, Snuggles!
Vogue it, boys!