Baby Tigers, Baby Rabbits

They are observing their father, who is free style beat boxing behind me -in one of the most energetic and creative efforts to entertain babies at a photo shoot that I have ever aurally experienced. This was a great shoot to finish up my shoot season - incredibly cute twins at my favorite photo shoot age (between 6 and 9 months; sitting up, push ups, giggly, full on baby pudge - and no escape crawling!); ideal window lighting and large plain bed surface and wall to work with; fun but not overwhelming props; enthused parents; a resulting great batch of photos.

Wait Wait Wait, Back Up, Finish Up Shoot Season? What is this all about? you ask. Well, I'm headed on maternity leave. I didn't mention it? Yeah, I did hold off on that, had I not - I'd be tempted to blog, All The Time, about how tough it is to do photo shoots while lugging 10, 15, 20, 25, now almost 30 Extra Pounds around. Figured it wouldn't be that interesting to read about my grumbles. Waiting until now, I can apply hindsight, and write more thoughtfully about the experience. Mobility/ Physical Challenges are the obvious issues, which I'll talk (A Lot) about later. There are much more positive things that have come out of this.

What was most enjoyable about being a pregnant photographer is the immediate camaraderie that I formed with my mom clients - that's basically, 99% of my clients. As so many of my subjects are babies, many moms were recently pregnant, and offer much empathy and advice. In several cases, repeat clients are pregnant with their second baby, and the news of more babies to come are a delight to both of us. It is fascinating how just the shared experience of pregnancy has made my already fun job as a baby photographer even more satisfying - before, I was an observer and documenter of the mom world, but now I am also a participant, and contributing community member.

I am on partial maternity leave, which means I am done with shoots - much to my back's relief. I still have piles (as always!) of edits to work on, which will keep me busy, and my blog filled, for the next few weeks. I should be on full Mat Leave by April, and then will be photo free - haha, except for pics of my OWN baby - until July or later. There might be some other baby photos sprinkled in there. 'Tis the season for baby births it seems, and I suspect I will not be able to resist taking some pics of other Baby Rabbits for good friends. Unless I am That sleep deprived. I'm planning to keep Octopus Ink blogging with curated The Best Of photos and tidbits of photo-taking wisdom; I will display less stringently curated, gushy Look At My Baby on ABC day doing XYZ type pics elsewhere.
So stick around.