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…your newborn photographer wants you to know.

After writing my last post “Five things your family photographer wants you to know” found here, I thought I’d share another one for newborn clients. And I’ll say it again, although I can’t speak for every newborn photographer I thought these are some general thoughts that I think lots of us would agree on!

1. Please contact us before your baby arrives. Most photographers have a somewhat short window of time that they photograph newborns. With our schedule and yours, the best possible situation to get some options or even get a session is to contact your photographer before your baby arrives. Added benefit is that it is one less thing to deal with once baby is here.

2. We don’t expect a clean house. We totally understand that you’re tired, not feeling 100% and have your hands full. So we certainly do not expect a clean house, we’re happy to move things that may be in the way or in the background.

3. We expect to stop for a feeding, diaper change, spit up clean up, etc. Don’t worry about our time, we expect these things.

4. Make sure the photographer you choose shoots in the style you like. A photographer may have gotten fabulous reviews from your best friend but if her/his photography is very posed with a studio look and you prefer a more natural lifestyle look then you aren’t going to be happy with the results like your friend was.

And again if you missed it the first time…

You get what you pay for. Everyone has a budget, which is expected and totally fine. And you can find a portrait photographer at every price point but please remember you get what you pay for. If you hire someone at a low price point expect that they are less likely to have as much experience with the whole process (dealing with kids, their equipment and producing consistent work) as someone at a higher price point. We all had to start somewhere but the old saying tends to be true, you get what you pay for. Enough said.

And I have to finish with a photograph, of course. He was such a sweetie!

I hope this helps, so please forward on if you have a friend that’s expecting!

peace and pictures,

kelli

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…your family portrait photographer wants you to know.

Credit where credit is due! I got the idea for this post from wedding photographer Misty Minna who wrote a blog post “Five things your wedding photographer wants you to know.” And, although I can’t speak for every child/family portrait photographer I thought that I’d share some general thoughts that I think lots of us would agree on!

1. It’s ok to reschedule your session if your child is sick. In fact please do! We want a happy kid as much as you do and unlike a grumpy mood that passes, if your kid is sick, there’s usually nothing that will help except trying again another time.

2. You are not the only couple who was arguing (or maybe even fighting) before your session. We are well aware this isn’t your husband’s idea of an amazing time and that you might be a little stressed about making it on time, the kid(s) behaving, etc. We try to make the session as fun and painless as possible, even for your hubby, so don’t sweat it. Hopefully, he’ll be a believer when he sees the results. Then next time you won’t have to drag him kicking and screaming, although we can’t compete with a beer and his favorite sport that just happens to have fallen on the same afternoon as the session you scheduled three months ago! Oops;)

3. We are not judging your parenting skills. If there is a time to loosen up and break a few rules, your portrait session is it! We want everyone to have fun, so bite your tongue if they say something slightly rude (what? kids do that?), get a little silly or jump on the bed. It works to our advantage, even in future sessions, when they see us as fun and they get to act a little crazier then normal.

4. It’s ok to not be PC. Let the fart sounds, jokes and stinky feet comments fly! If it results in natural laughs from the kid(s) and your hubby then we are thrilled (and giggling behind the camera)!

5. Don’t put your session off, you look great as you are. There have been many good photographer blog posts about this point floating around the internet, don’t worry about your “best side” or those 10lbs you wanted to lose before the session. What’s more important is that life flies by and your kid(s) having photos of your family is priceless.

Bonus. You get what you pay for. Everyone has a budget, which is expected and totally fine. And you can find a portrait photographer at every price point but please remember you get what you pay for. If you hire someone at a low price point expect that they are less likely to have as much experience with the whole process (dealing with kids, their equipment and producing consistent work) as someone at a higher price point. We all had to start somewhere but the old saying tends to be true, you get what you pay for. Enough said.

I hope this helps no matter who your kid/family photographer is! And I’ll finish with one photo of my little man and his cousin’s from this summer…ahhh remember summer?

peace & pictures,

kelli

2 comments

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Cheryl S

What a great photo!
Katie

Good advice, and precious sweeties that are growing so fast. Very appreciative of the memory, and of your photography!

I’m currently 30 weeks preggo and due mid April. Book your session now for February or March. My goal is to be back shooting June 1st but this could change slightly depending on when Taylor baby 2.0 makes his or her appearance. And now for some bump pictures.

peace & pictures,
kelli

16 comments

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Jen

Look how cute you are! LOVE it!
Jen k

You fantastic!!!! Soooooo cute.
Nana

I can’t wait to meet 2.0! Love the picts
Aubri Graybeal / pinkskyphoto.net

So adorable!
conne good

lookin good, Kelli
carol pedersen teevens

love the pics; you look adorable Happy, happy baby times to you and your family… good luck with the birth.
Barb Hughes

Those are adorable pictures of you and 2.0!!!
Nicole

You are adorable!!!!
peggy webster

Very creative or you I know you are my daughter
that got changed at birth in some strange way
carol

It is great to see beautiful pictures of our daughter-in-law and our newest grandchild.
Heather

Totally love the pics Kelli:)!! Congrats to u guys and u look (as always;) adorable-ESP w a little baby bump-awe!!
Heather Cecil

Ha-forgot to put my last name so u would know which Heather (Cecil;)
Katie

So cute! Love these…looking great!
Shay H

How cute!!! Good Luck and can’t wait to see pics of baby 2.0… Our family is moving to Europe for 6 months returning in September… I hope that we can schedule another shoot then…Take Care
Maria DeLuca

Love the pictures of you Kelly. I think it’s a girl! Grandma and friends are so excited for the up and coming baby! Enjoy!
Maria DeLuca

Love the pictures of you Kelly. I think it’s a girl! Grandma and friends are so excited for the up and coming baby! Enjoy!

If you know me, you know 2012 wasn’t an easy dog year. After losing our precious Oscar in 2010 shortly after Sutton was born, we lost our, hold her up on a pedestal, dog Bella last February. We were simply devastated and dogless. So despite the common sense, I think, I normally have we got a puppy in April. Let me expand: a puppy while having a toddler, knowing I would probably be pregnant soon after (which I was), two weeks before going on a vacation…let’s just say not our smartest move.
Bauer was/is a handful, much like any other puppy. Unlike any other puppy: he turned out to be a different breed mix then we were told, he has a totally different personality and energy level then we were used to, and since he was a rescue it was clear that he didn’t have the socialization that he should’ve before we got to him. The expressions, “puppy from hell” and “thank goodness he’s cute” have been used more then once. And that’s where this post should end, with a couple of photos and a big happy birthday Bauer, right? Wrong…

If you saw either of my facebook pages last week you know that any dog owners worst nightmare happened to us last week. Bauer decided to run away or as we like to call it, “Bauer’s big adventure”, so I feel for those of you that saw that would like hear the whole story.

Chris and I were out of town seeing friends in LA (after he wrapped up some work) for a couple of days for, what I can assume, will be the last time I get a vacation for awhile. My brother and his girlfriend who both ADORE Bauer were watching him (the dog before his 1st birthday). Well, despite the gate being “locked” and shut, Bauer pushed it open and took off. I must add that if he was ever going to have a doggy camera on him this would’ve been the time. Thankfully, Sarah heard the noise and realized it right away, but he must have bolted because they ran outside and was gone! I must edit myself here to stay PC because some (swear word here) man walking his own dog saw Bauer get out of my brothers yard, didn’t try to catch him or go up and knock on the dog to tell my brother! But like I said, they were on it right away. You can imagine how the next few hours went. Thanks to my brother, his girlfriend Sarah, my Mom and my Dad who were all driving and walking through the snow to try and find my dog in eight degree weather. I received a call from my brother about an hour into this since Bauer is micro-chipped to make sure it wasn’t a GPS too, it’s not (BTW, why aren’t they!?). Pregnant and frantic across the country there wasn’t anything I could do. Two things we had going against us, other then the normally stuff, was that Bauer had only been to my brothers house a couple times and wasn’t familiar with the area AND he’s not the kind of dog to go up to people he doesn’t know. Thankfully, my brother stopped to ask a cop if he had seen a dog and he said another police officer just called in a dog and my brother went to where they said they saw it. It was Bauer! Cold, wet, muddy, totally freaked out and under the only street light on the street. If my brother had been one minute later he wouldn’t have seen him. He called his name and jumped out of the car and when Bauer saw who it was he came running and leaped into the car!

Bauer is back home now safe, sound and oddly a lot calmer so far. His big adventure seems to have changed him just a bit. He must have nine lives with only has seven left, since he escaped being euthanized as a puppy and now this. He had to have crossed two major roads at least once and was gone for three and a half hours in the freezing Michigan weather. So, if you take away anything from this, please(!) if you see a loose dog try and get it and when you see a post on facebook about a lost pet please share it, because I know how it feels to be that person missing their pet and I wish everyone that this happens to will have the happy ending we got.

Happy Birthday Bauer, don’t you ever do that to me again!!!

peace & pictures,
kelli

4 comments

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Claire

This made me cry! I can’t even imagine if that had happened to me. Our pets are our family and just like smelly big brothers (cough cough Joe), we love them through thick and thin!!!! Happy Birthday, Bauer!!
Jen

Happy Birthday Bauer! I’m so glad that he’s okay. I shared your post about him missing on my FB page when it happened and was so happy to hear when he was found.
peggy webster

I love this dog, he is a good dog, you have to keep this dog,
he will do great things some day! His biggest fan,
auntie peggy
Katie

Thank goodness he is safe, and for good family and police men to help. Happy b day to that cute face!

Purple Tree

hello & thank you for swinging by

purple tree photography

four things…

five things…

maternity leave coming soon…

happy (belated) 1st birthday bauer

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