One of my goals for this new year, is to photograph more 'lifestyle' photo sessions. If you are not sure what a lifestyle session is, it is a way to capture real life at real time. Photographing everyday moments, milestones and family life: the 'art of everyday.' In the past few years of photographing families, I've really come to love these lifestyle sessions. There's no studio, no posing, no props...just you and your family, living life in front of the camera! 

I met this sweet family a few years ago for big sister Sadie's newborn photos. Then Kim took a position at the hospital where I worked, so we have the opportunity to work together in a different capacity. But I haven't photographed their family since Sadie's first birthday and now they have their sweet baby girl Audrey. So I was excited when Kim asked about doing Audrey's first birthday photos and we decided on a lifestyle photo session at Kim's mom house, where Kim grew up. How fun to do their family photos in mom's childhood home! Audrey's birthday party was just the day before, but Grandma still had a few presents for her to open. So, they spent time opening her presents and reading her new books together while I captured their interactions. I really love the photos of Sadie and Audrey playing, they were so cute together! Finally, we moved on to Audrey's cake smash. She was a little unsure about the cake at first so Kim had to help her 

Introducing sweet baby Taryn! When I met this gorgeous girl, she was only 8 days old but already so loved by her family! Big brother was ready to play as soon as I got to their house, so we gave him some time to settle in before starting on family photos. As with any toddler, its important to be flexible and understand that they cannot be expected to 'perform' for a full photo session. When I do a newborn session where there's an older sibling, especially a toddler, I like to get the family and sibling photos done first. If I made them wait around in their cute outfits for 2 hours when I was done with the newborn photos, they would never make it! :)  So, we got everyone ready and sat down and snuggled in for family photos in front of the fireplace. While I always get some posed, traditional photos, I also like to capture the casual, 'everyday' moments in between photo set ups. That's why I really liked the photos of mom reading a story to big brother while also holding baby Taryn. This time next year, she have both kiddos on her lap engaged in the story!. But it was fun to capture the natural smiles and looks between mom, dad and big brother with their new baby. 

For Taryn's posed photos, mom told me that she really loved neutrals and her husband would like some pink. So I brought several neutral backdrop options with some fun texture. When I have a baby girl, I always bring my headbands for parents to look through. Mom had fun going through all of the headbands and she made lots of choices. I used several headbands, wraps and poses with the same backdrop to give it different looks. I also brought a 'new' vintage quilt I had just received and was really excited to use it in her session. I love all of the fun bright colors in the quilt, coupled with the soft, fluffy purple blanket in her bucket. Finally, mom had asked to incorporate their wedding bands into a photo. We originally tried placing them on her toes, but we were at the end of the session and Taryn was starting to figit, so I repositioned her and entwined them in her fingers. I really love the final image. There's just something so sweet about her tiny little fingers holding something as precious as her parent's wedding bands!

I went about a month without a newborn client and then had three newborns arrive around the same time. Baby Camden was my first of three newborn sessions over the weekend and set the tone for an awesome set of babies! He had a feeding and was ready to go when I got to their house so we jumped right in to his posed photos. Normally, I try and do family photos first to get them done and out of the way. I find parents tend to relax after their part is done and I can take care of the baby for a while, only passing them back over for feedings or extra snuggles. But if there are no older siblings and baby is ready to go when I get to the house, we'll go ahead and do their posed photos first. One of the biggest assets you can have when photographing newborns is the ability to be flexible. You just have to go with the flow!

Camden's session was especially fun because his mama is a former co-worker and I had not seen her in a few years. So, it was really nice to catch up and chat about our new lives as mamas. His mama Sarah knew that she wanted to use darker, more rich colors for his backdrops so I brought several deep colors for her to choose from. And I also brought a really fun vintage quilt and rustic wooden bucket that I knew I wanted to use. He was so snuggly, he just curled right up in the bucket! Plus, I got the best facial expressions and yawns from him during the session! For the family photos, they really wanted to try and include their sweet dog. As an animal lover myself, of course I said yes and she was so good with baby Camden! I loved how she just snuggled up on the couch with her family, even though some bribery treats may have been used! ​