My first shoot of the new year couldn’t have taken place with a nicer family. This was my first time working with Danielle and Alex, their 14-year-old dachshund Honeybee, and definitely my first time working with their 7-day-old son. They were all so kind and invited me into their beautiful home to capture their baby in first few days at home (a lot of firsts here). These two met as professional classical musicians, which I think is so cool, and I’m sure that their son will inherit their talent and love of music. They were so fun to talk to as we hung around the house and talked babies and music and careers. I’m so happy for their new family and am delighted with their pictures (their son is beyond adorable but also Honeybee the dachshund has some serious modeling abilities).
It is wonderful photographing people you haven’t seen in a while, especially when those people have had two children since the last time you saw them, and those two children really love your branding even though they’ve never met you or used your services, and they’ve placed your stickers all over their house. I’ve come equipped to recent sessions with two stickers: my current branding with the two fruit bats, and my old “vintage” branding that depicts two classic Halloween bats in front of a moon. Eloise and Thomas, the children of Crystal and Jason, had already placed their parents’ vintage stickers around the house. So when I tried to give another one of these to Eloise, she seemed disappointed and said, “Oh…. yeah… we already have that one,” but she was excited about the new fruit bats. But by the end of the session, Eloise had changed her tune and was suddenly requesting “four more stickers – two for me, and two for my little brother” – one of each branding design. I diligently obliged and then went back to talking to Crystal about something. When I turned around a few seconds later, I discovered both to my delight and horror that Eloise had placed all four stickers in prominent positions on her parents’ vehicles. I think I ran around stammering “I’m so sorry” repeatedly while photographing my new moving billboards with my phone. Thankfully Crystal and Jason are good sports and are okay with accidentally advertising for me for the remainder of the lifespan of their cars (or until they get some Goo Gone, whichever comes first) because they are delightful. Their children are delightful – intelligent, thoughtful, smiley little creatures. And their dog Atlas is DELIGHTFUL. All caps. Love this good old boy. Sorry about the stickers everyone, but I do smile when I go to bed at night knowing that the bats are driving around town.
Newborn babies are probably most fun when they are wrapped in taco blankets and accompanied by a dog named Taco, don’t you think? Baby Avital was welcomed into the world by loving parents Haley and Asher and by extremely-inquisitive-and-affectionate-so-doesn’t-quite-understand-personal-space-when-it-comes-to-babies older brother Taco. Taco is quite adorable and fluffy and fearless. He enjoys sweaters and pets. Avital is quite adorable and little and fearless. She enjoys koalas and owning a variety of fabulous blankets. Her parents tell me that she’s a future National Park Ranger, but there’s still some debate on which specific National Park she’ll choose. For now, her possible choices of future outdoorsy employment are on display via, you guessed it, her variety of fabulous blankets (camp sites and cacti) as well as her adorable stuffed koala. Haley and Asher are great parents, NYC transplants, and have incredibly interesting jobs. Also, there’s no quicker way to get to know someone than to move heavy furniture with them, which we did flawlessly, so I give them an A+ humanity rating. Plus how can you not like people who wrap their baby in a taco blanket?
