6 weeks is a great age to photograph. It is almost impossible to get those sweet, squishy, sleepy newborn portraits because after about 2 weeks of life a baby totally wakes up. You will see. Once your baby is 10-14 days old she will be awake so much more than she ever was before. She will start looking around, knowing when she is with mama or daddy and she will begin to understand that there is more to the world than just her. No more foldy, bendy, posable babies. At this age, they love to stretch out, open their eyes, and look around.

But it is the nature of being a new parent that you don’t quite think of calling a photographer in those first few days. You get so wrapped up in the newness and sweetness of your little baby. So, I get a lot of calls for newborns between the ages of 2 weeks and 6 weeks. And I love doing them. Mostly because I really love lifestyle shots. By that I mean photos of that are not quite posed.  Mom and dad loving on the baby in bed, mom nursing, daddy holding his baby up over his head and looking into her eyes. I love that kind of stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sleepy newborn photos with all the fun knit hats and cocoons, but I think I love more the photographs of mom gingerly playing with one of her baby’s little toes, or snuggling with her in the rocking chair.

Oh, and the eyes. Most early newborn portraits have to be with the baby’s eyes closed because they are still so cross eyed when they they are so new. It is just the truth, they can not focus their eyes, and so when I take a wide awake photo of a baby just a few days old, they are going to look a little out of it and dazed. By six weeks, however, they are trying so hard to be able to focus their eyes and see things, so it is much better.

For example, Olivia. Isn’t she just breathtaking? So tiny too-at six weeks she is 8 lbs. She is the same weight as most of the other newborn babies I photograph, but she is much more present. I just love her-her eyes, her perfect little face. I also have to say I love that wall in her nursery. I am not sure if there is a local store where you can get these, but all of my Boulder families tend to have those cool wall decals. Love them!

Olivia’s mom and I talked on the phone for quite a bit when she initially called me. This mama had a natural breach birth! I was so happy to hear that. A lot of you know that I am also a birth doula (though my passion now is birth photography), and it is straight to cesarean birth for breech babies around here. I read an article recently though about how Canada is moving in the direction of training all their birth practitioners in delivering breech births. Apparently the the risks of a cesarean birth are about equal to that of a vaginal breech birth. And there are only TWO doctors in the Boulder/Denver area that will deliver a breech baby! I could not believe it. We really need to get more birth practitioners in the area trained to do these types of deliveries. It would be great to have more options. Olivia’s mom was set up to deliver with Boulder Nurse Midwives (whom I love!) and had to seek out a doctor in Denver to help her deliver in the end. Anyways, I just think she is amazing. That is a great gift for her to give to her daughter, and I love to hear stories like that so I thought I would pass it on.

xoxo

stacey

Oh my! Such beautiful newborn twin girls. Really, I was in heaven photographing these newborns because they were so sweet, sleepy, and perfect in every way. Look at that beautiful skin! Most people don’t realize that there is usually hours of editing involved in newborn pictures because the baby’s skin is usually reacting to the hormones in their mother’s milk. But these two girls had the most beautiful skin. I can’t wait to post more photos! There are so many gorgeous ones.

So, my holiday season *seemed* to be wrapping up and then I took three last minute shoots last week. It was pretty awesome though, because it was 60 degrees last Tuesday in Boulder and I was able to photograph a 6 month old without any clothes at all. I will try to put up more blog posts in the next week.

Overall, I am hoping things settle down a bit this week. Most clients have gotten their Christmas cards and print packages from me. Since my office manager left me over a week ago, the room that used to be called my office has rapidly become covered-floor, desk, tables with prints and canvases. Don’t get me wrong-I love, love, LOVE looking at my work once it is printed-it is actually one of the very best things about my job. But, I have no skill whatsoever in organizing things and it has been a hard road getting everything together, packaged, and out the door. I do, however, think I successfully managed to get out Christmas cards to all my clients in time. Anyways, I never want Kellie to leave Boulder again, I just don’t have the capacity for this kind of work. I only want to take the photos and play with the babies.

So, more of these beautiful newborn twins soon, I promise! And I will probably be blogging every day for the next couple weeks, so keep checking in:)
xoxo
stacey

Yep. This is MY baby. And I love this photo.  So many songs come to mind… “I’ve got the whole world, in my hands,” I’m on the top of the world and looking down on creation,”It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears.” Anyways, I tried to do my own kids Christmas photos VERY last minute. Got them all dressed, grabbed a few things, and it was WAY, way too cold. Like crazy cold.  They lasted a minute and we had to leave. I will try again this week, though, as it is supposed to be 60 all week, whoot! So, more to come of my beautiful little family…

Wow, these girls are so beautiful, the weather was just AMAZING for a December day in Boulder, and we had a ton of fun. Well, maybe not at first. Harper was a little grumpy when we first started out. She did not want to do photos, and just stared me DOWN. Like it was her job. But then…I have no idea what changed, maybe the little photographer angels came down and gave her some happy angel dust, because then she was the perfect model. She was so full of joy, happy to play with her baby sister, and it was great from that point on.

So, sad news here-Amelia has croup. Yes, it sounds so scary, but she is doing fine. I think she had some kind of virus last week that just moved into her upper respiratory tract. Her breathing is fine, she just has that soft little seal-bark cough and she has lost her voice. Have you ever heard a 15 month old baby try to talk with croup? It is so sad. But, overall, she is actually doing great and I think this will pass in just a few days.  It has already been such a bad winter for illnesses. I guess because my son started kindergarten this year and is just bring home a lot of germs…

So I am wrapping up 2010 and am REALLY looking forward to the break. I love how I get this huge rush of sessions November through mid December and then suddenly nothing for a few weeks. It is perfect timing since I really, really love Christmas and it gives me more time to just snuggle in with the kids and do fun crafts and projects. Oh, and I also have an awesome weekly photo project I am planning on starting the week of Christmas, and will update you all soon on that!

Oh, how I love this photo. Their sweet little hats, laying on the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen, reading a book in the warm sun (in Colorado, in December). I have been posting single-photo sneak peeks lately because I am just trying to get at least one up for each family for now, as I have had a lot of people schedule last minutes sessions this year for the holidays. But all galleries are now edited and up! I have finally caught up! All print orders are taken care of-holiday cards are taking much longer than usual this year though. So, if you have been waiting on a package with cards, it should be ready any day now!

xoxo

stacey

We had a nice, cozy, Christmasy weekend. My brother just got married, whoot! All I can really picture him as is a five year old, and that is how old my son is now, and they look so identical! I love it. I love that when you have your own kids, you can relive a little of your own childhood at the same time. I don’t feel like being a child was that far away. Do you? I feel like I was a kid yesterday. Yet, somehow, I am 31. Yes 31! And I still feel 5, 15, 18. I mean, I was just 25, right? Like yesterday. But such is life. It passes by so slowly when you are young-each year stretching for infinity, and then snap-you are 30, and then each year passes like a month. I keep saying it is all because I have young children, and it is all a blur when you have young children. Right?

Really, the year I got pregnant with my fist baby, I spent three full month in meditation. Yep, three months of 10 hours a day just sitting. Or meditating and walking. Or meditating and eating. For those of you that don’t know, I did my masters degree at Naropa. And it was always about just being here. Being in touch with what was actually going on. Breathing, doing yoga, being with friends. And yesterday we realized for the very first time (I kid you not, after everything you have read on my blog) we JUST realized that we have a “spirited child.” I will save what that means to us in my next post, but for now, I TOTALLY understand why I am not doing those month long meditation retreats anymore, and why it is hard to even get to a yoga class, and why I just can not relax and chill and cuddle with my beautiful baby. Anyways, I will write more soon. I am off to try for the THIRD time to put my sweet, sick, little 15 month old to sleep at 9:30pm.

And because Jaxson was the perfect little model, here is one:) More to come!

How were we able to get that first shot in the middle of winter, you ask? I have no idea. The weather here is so wonky. It is 60 degrees out! But when I have a nice day, even in December, you can be sure that I will be taking naked baby shots, they are just too sweet to pass up:) Ella is such a calm, sweet little baby, and so clearly loves her mama. I love that last shot too, it is just too classic and reminds me of photos that I saw of my sister from the early 70′s. That is a vintage sweater-we had one for our kids, too-it belonged to my husband when he was a baby. The hood is ingenious and I wish someone would start making those sweaters again! I would buy up a ton in an instant-they frame the babies face in such a beautiful way and are perfect for photos.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather today! I will definitely be spending the afternoon outside with the kids.

Beautiful family, and Francesca is such a sweet little girl. It took her awhile to warm up with me-that sometimes happens. I think it is smart. First, we spend an hour bathing them, trying on different outfits, doing their hair (if they have any). Mom is probably running around trying to gather last minute outfits and toys to bring. Then, we take our babies to a strange new place. We put them out in a field by themselves, and expect them to be happy and smiley for us, when really they are just thinking “I have never seen mom and dad dance around and act like monkeys before-why on earth are they making all those funny noises behind that strange woman with that big black box?” “Why do we keep walking down the path holding hands and then turning around again? I want to GO somewhere.”

It can be a lot. I do try to make it fun. I sing songs, make silly animal noises, and often just sit down and play with the baby for awhile. That tends to help. BUT, since this was a mini portrait session, things have to go a little faster so there is not always a ton of time to do that. Either way, I just LOVE every photo of Francesca. We totally got her smiling and having fun. Well, to be honest, mom was the one that really got her happy. I just love the one of them playing patty cake! It is my daughter’s favorite game to play, and I wish I had a photo like that of her and I.

It is a beautiful day in Boulder today! I feel so lucky this year-I have been able to keep doing outdoor family sessions all the way into December!. I have two today, and am glad it is so sunny and beautiful out. Lots more blog posts to come this week…

xoxo
stacey

One of the best families I have ever photographed. They are so beautiful and the girls just *love* each other. This was actually originally just a mini photo session, and we did it on a cold, dark, WINDY night. The photos did turn out great, but in many of the family photos there was just WAY too much hair whipping around, so I offered to do another short 15 minutes session with them to make up for it. Of course, every image was beautiful and so sweet of them again! This was quite a foggy day, which is why everything looks so lavender and magical. And I love that about Boulder-I never know what the weather is going to be like, even from hour to hour sometimes. Each session is unique.

So, this week has been a busy one for me. I have been trying to get a million holiday card orders in, and somehow made my deadline!  Every time a new client Christmas card arrives I just sit and look at it for a bit-they are just so pretty! I am always tempted to just steal one out of the package so that I can have it, but I never have, I promise.  That being said, I am always thrilled when clients send me a holiday card;) I did not even have time for my own cards, but will try to get to them next week and post it on the blog.

Everything is well here. Amelia had a little bit of the crummies in her tummy yesterday, and is doing fine now. We also just planned our trip to WPPI Las Vegas! Looks like it is going to work out great-my nanny is coming so we can bring the kids along, too. It will be a great little family side trip. It is literally 15,000 photographers all in one place! I can’t wait!

xoxo

stacey