Filsinger Maternity

How appropriate that I'm blogging this session on Mother's Day. =)

Tanya already has one beautiful daughter, Jaedyn, and is expecting her second daughter, Brielyn, at the end of this week! We did a maternity-cum-family session and mama was positively glowing! I am looking forward to meeting the little one in early June after she is born.

Newborn Posing Workshop

I have been so blessed to be able to watch Kelly Brown's Newborn Posing Workshop on CreativeLIVE over the last few days. Most of the workshops occur on the hours I work at my "real-life job" at Target, so I am not able to watch as many as I would like, but Ce la vie. This was actually the first workshop I watched on CL, and it so inspired me and so empowered me that I am even more excited for my two newborn sessions scheduled over the next month!

One of my favorite moments in the workshop occurred on the first day when Kelly said that she had asked Sue Bryce to come to her studio and give her a kick in the pants. It was so encouraging to see that someone who is as successful as Kelly is had her moments when she was struggling, and that success really isn't just handed to anyone. That moment makes a photographer like me, who is struggling, believe that I can make it, too, with a "kick in the bum." =)

The second of my favorite moments occurred on day two, as Kelly was doing some of her post-production work. She did some of the same basic techniques that I do, and I was so uplifted and encouraged when I saw her darkening the eye line of the sleeping baby. It made me feel like I was doing something right! (Dare I say that it made me feel a little proud?) I was also a bit shocked when she color corrected the baby because the skin tones were a little red -- a problem I encountered on my last newborn shoot, and was sure that it was just a flaw that I had somehow created, probably by not setting my white balance correctly or something related. Seeing a pro have a similar issue arise in post-pro really gave me a boost of confidence. (Maybe the baby's skin was just red, and it wasn't something that I did at all.)

In the light of this workshop, when I look back over my just-published blog containing my favorite images from Colby's newborn session --my third ever-- I can see several things that I will be doing differently when it comes to posing in my future newborn sessions.

I am so sad to not be able to see any more of the workshop live as it happens. Real life is kicking in, and I have to go before watching the piece of the workshop where she poses siblings. I'm sure there are many more moments that I would favor and find uplifting.

Thank you so much, CreativeLIVE and Kelly Brown, for the wonderful bits of information, inspiration, and encouragement I have gained from the workshop! I am sure there will be many more on the downloaded package.

Newborn Colby

He was born on the day of --and in the middle of-- a really bad snowstorm, and he came a few weeks early, but he and mama were happy and healthy. (And they still are, two and nearly a half months later.)

These photos were taken on March 4th when he was 10 days old. They are my favorites from our session.

My favorite shot from the entire session. One of my favorites, ever.

Sleepy little guy.

Detail.

My second favorite shot, and it's a close second. It was the dad's idea to wrap the blanket around Colby like a cloud and I love this image. 

Contemplation.

Welcome to the world, Colby!