Kristen + Matt - An Annapolis Engagement Session

It appears that scheduling a session in the month of February can be some seriously tricky business. This is our fourth winter here in Maryland and MAN is this one snowy! Kristen, Matt, and I totally lucked out with the weather for our downtown Annapolis session. It wasn't terribly cold, the skies were just a bit overcast, and there wasn't a winter storm heading our way!

Kristen and Matt are such a cool couple. They met through mutual friends about 4 years ago, and have been engaged for a year and a half now. Matt proposed with an adorable scavenger hunt, with each clue having an inside joke between him and Kristen. Matt is not only a middle-school gym teacher, but also a DJ in Annapolis so they spend a lot of time in this quaint city (plus, what fun jobs!!) I was asking for all sorts of advice on where to eat, who has the best crab cakes in town, and why Chick & Ruth's is such a hit with the tourists (I'm sorry, I just don't get it!) 

I always love my downtown Annapolis sessions; it is especially fun when the area holds meaning to the couple or when you can tell they spend a lot of time together in this place! And theirs was no exception! I can't wait for their wedding this March....and I'm hoping we have just as good of luck with the weather on the day of their wedding as we did on their engagement session!

 

 

Claire - A Newborn Session

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am no longer booking any future "Posed Newborn" sessions. I will, however, offer in-home family sessions to families who just had new babies! This means that instead of bringing my bean bag, my space heater, millions of blankets, bows, hats, and other super adorable props to a newborn session, I will just be bringing myself and my camera to your home and capturing the essence and freshness of a newborn in its purest and most raw form. I am super excited to be transitioning my newborn sessions into something much more organic and real. Don't get me wrong, I have some serious respect for all newborn photographers because I am fully aware of how much patience and expertise it takes to safely and lovingly photograph them in their adorable outfits, props, and poses. I love seeing others' images in my newsfeed and truly recognize their talent. But for me, it just felt like I was trying to force a puzzle piece into my work that just wasn't meant to fit. The forced posing and backdrops covering up the natural state of a home went against the grain for me - none of it matched the rest of my work and it was starting to frustrate me without me even realizing it! It wasn't until Claire's session that it all finally clicked in my brain!

I decided her session was going to be my last newborn session to include props, but I would also do a few lifestyle ones to make sure that was really the direction I wanted to go in. She was such a sweet newborn to "end" on, truly an easy little angel who both slept and stared at me with big wondering brown eyes. But it wasn't until I got home, loaded all my images on my computer, and started to edit where the answer came to me. I was dragging my feet through the images that were posed...and as soon as I got to the shots with Claire and her mom interacting, it was like my heart stepped on the gas pedal and I was happily speeding through those images. I was smiling and my heart was exploding with passion and joy over my job. I knew then that I was making the right choice in moving away from Posed Newborn sessions.

I have compiled a gallery to show any future clients inquiring about a newborn session with me so that they could get a better idea of what to expect from a "Lifestyle Newborn" session. I would love for you to check out the gallery here....that is, of course, after you stay around to see just how precious Claire is, enjoy my last "posed" newborn, and celebrate many more beautiful, un-posed newborn images to come!