Past Squishy Stage

Three weeks old, my youngest subject yet! Since newborns don't do very much, the photography is more about the composition - being artsy, but without playing with props so much that the picture feels contrived... I think that's the right word? To be honest, I've not used it in a sentence before. But I think this is the right time to bust it out. Contrived. Like A. Geddes baby photos, that were so popular in the early 90s, with babies (in a variety of skin shades) dressed like flowers sitting in flower pots or hatching out of large eggs. It's a matter of taste of course, and for me - while I think it would be fun to set up a themed shoot, it's hard to avoid resulting baby photos from feeling plastic-y, like playing dress-up with dolls or something. Objectified, perhaps.

Anyways, three weeks is past squishy stage already, so no curling the baby into fetal position and such. Instead, we made use of swaddle blankets and black-sleeved parental arms. I've seen this done with lots of baby pics before, and thought I'd give the black sleeve technique a whirl. What black long sleeves allows for is the lack of distraction from arms leading the eye off the picture, yet, the presence of hands to prop up the baby and to add a feeling of comfort. Same ol' black backdrop as used for the superheroes, draped over a sofa. I used some small studio lights, in addition to window light.

This is the baby's big sister. While the combination of kids and instruments is very fun to photograph, little kids cannot look up and continue to play at the same time. Simply not possible!  So, her eyes are downcast for all the guitar photos.