This is my 5th year in business and one of my goals this year is to try new things. A beautiful natural-light studio became available and I decided to rent it for mini sessions in February. I haven't had the opportunity to do studio sessions yet but the studio was so gorgeous, it was hard to pass up! I thought it would be a great opportunity for families to have photos taken without the stress of winter weather. It worked out too because it ended up raining all morning, but because we were indoors, we didn't have to worry about rescheduling or finding a location to shoot in the rain.

I had two repeat families join me as well as a new couple for their engagement photos. The engagement session was fun because it was my first official engagement photo session. It was fun trying something new! I was also excited to take photos of my daughter with our puppy. We got our dog, Daisy, in August and I haven't really taken her first official portrait since she joined our family. So, we made sure to get fun photos of Daisy and our daughter playing together. I love the candid shots from each of the sessions that day and while I'm happy with how the studio photos came out, I'm really excited for spring and summer to get here so we can head back out for outdoor photos! 

Meet beautiful baby Sloan! When I met this gorgeous little girl, she was just a week old but we had her session planned for months after I did their maternity session. They waited to find out the gender until she was born and to find out they had a girl - what a fun surprise!  They are a very laid back, casual family so for the family photos, we tried more natural photos of the family together. Big brother Lewis decided that he'd rather play with his cars than take photos, but it was fun capturing them playing together and interacting in a more casual atmosphere.

Baby Sloan had perfect newborn features so I took photos at different angles to showcase her details. She looks like a little doll! We also found out that she liked to be wrapped, so I made sure to keep her wrapped, warm and snuggled for her photos. I really love the lace backdrop that mom chose to use. It's girly without being over the top - just the perfect feminine touch! While I definitely have my own preferences and style when choosing props, I always ask for input from the parents so that their photos can match their own family's style. While I am not an 'over-the-top, pink, girly' person, I always have those pink accents and touches available that to a family that loves girly set ups for their new baby girl. I knew that Sloan's parents wanted feminine touches without too much pink, so I chose props and set ups that would compliment that choice. I love to personalize the newborn session so it is unique to the family! Plus, if a family has specific props or items that they would like to use, I love to incorporate those as well. It really makes their photos that much more personal and special!

It has been a very interesting winter here in Pittsburgh. Normally, we have snow from January through March, but this year we've only had a few days where it snowed and actually stuck around. I got an email from mom Carrie back in November about scheduling a family session in the snow. We set a date for early January and decided to touch base as we got closer to see how the weather was doing. Well, of course we didn't have any snow on the day of their session. We rescheduled three more times before we finally got a decent snow and booked their session. But the day was so perfect for a snow session! It was baby Lucy's first time in the snow and she did a really good job! We made it a quick session because it was so cold, but we worked quick and got some adorable shots of Lucy and her parents! 

Fun fact: my husband travels a lot for work, so when he's out of town and I have a mini session, I sometimes bring along my 2 year old daughter, Averie. For the Wiersma's family session, I asked to bring along my daughter and of course they were okay with it. As I was getting ready for the session, I explained to Averie that she would be coming to work with mama and we would be taking pictures of a baby. I told her that her job was to help make the baby laugh and smile. When I bring Averie along, I always put her in the Ergo carrier on my back, so when we were taking pictures of Lucy, Averie was squealing, laughing and playing peek-a-boo with Lucy from behind my back. While I couldn't see what Averie was doing, it was so funny seeing Lucy and her parent's reactions to Averie. It was so cute watching Averie be my big helper during the session! I was one proud mama!!