One of my best childhood friends just had a baby! So of course I just had to drive to the Bay Area for a newborn session. Let me tell you it takes a lot of stuff to set up your studio on the go! I packed up my Honda Fit to the brim with photo supplies like my main light, fill light, bean bag, blankets, wraps, and all other manner of assorted items. This photo shoot is to go exceedingly well for both L and K, I was so excited. I wanted to give this loving couple the best I could give them away from my studio. So yes, I brought everything and the studio sand bags.
The Drive to San Jose
The drive was a bit long as I was bringing my 3 month old with me and we had to stop for nursing. The best part was I avoided traffic both there and back. I was so glad to get up to San Jose and see my sister for a relaxing evening before the photo shoot the next day. The drive was long, over 7 hours, but I knew the next day’s photo shoot was going to be worth it.
The Setup
The morning of I woke up early, had a good breakfast and headed over to L and K’s house to begin unloading and setting up for the photo session in their living room. After a while of coordinating the items needed for a proper shoot, we had a do-able location in the middle of the living room. Since there was going to be mostly newborn baby photos, I opted for the lighting to be mostly above the little one. We took several shots directly looking down on their wood floor, they turned out amazing post-edit. After those setups were complete, we took a bit of a break to gather all our collective thoughts on the second set of photos on my bean bag.
Once the bean bag frame was setup, thanks again hubby for your PVC pipe skills, it was time for the towels to be laid down to create the proper “nest” for the baby to sit in for his photos. Then I layered a few blankets on top so I could get a different look with minimal effort. After that were colored furs and wraps to perfect the baby photo look of pure relaxation. These are the most like what I am able to accomplish in my Santa Ana studio. With the tight quarters, we got some amazing photos, and I can’t wait to share them with L and K!
Trying Some New Techniques
For the last photos we turned the whole photo shoot upside-down. I normally don’t do couple photos back-lit, but something just caught me that morning. Perhaps I was feeling adventurous, perhaps I was feeling comfortable enough to change things up, perhaps I had a full caf-coffee. Either way, I turned my light around put the ladies in-front of it holding their precious newborn and began shooting. WOW! I thought. Did I just do that? These are fantastic family photos here. I was so excited I had them edited right away so I could share this with my friends and followers.
This was a great session! I’m so glad I did it. And I tried something new today with this silhouette shot of the happy mommies with their baby boy. What do you think? Congrats L and K! Baby S is adorable! be sure to call me when you have another, I am just a jam packed car, multi-hour drive, and a very quick “absolutely!” away.
