Maternity Session in Baton Rouge at Hilltop Arboretum.. and me 5 Months Preggo!

First Babies and making beautiful Maternity Sessions!!! 

Man, I couldn't REALLY know how exciting this aspect of Motherhood was until I became pregnant myself! I had done hundreds of Family Photography Sessions and Maternity Sessions since starting my business full time but honestly, I didn't understand the JOY behind this slot of time to really appreciate it all! 

Until now.... when I am almost 5 month pregnant! (Picture of me with Baby Charles in tow). Some people say I don't look 5 months pregnant but let me assure you, Natty is FULLY pregnant!! That tummy was non-existent till Baby Charlie arrived on the scene and I have 3 months of sickness to vouch for his growing little self as well! 

So when I photographed Karla and her hubby the other day it was so much more meaningful celebrating in their sweet joy that's on her way! 

Of course my sessions will always look very lifestyle and classic. I asked Karla what her desire were for their maternity session and she was all about the great outdoors and nature. This of course made me more than happy to accommodate! We went to LSU's Hilltop Arboretum off of Highland Road to begin.

We got some many precious takes with the three of them. I could not help myself but to of course utilize the Golden Hour. Did I mention how gorgeous Karla is and how impossible it was to get a bad photograph of her? Yeah... there basically was not one. And her hubs was such a nice guy- asking me if I needed help with my bags and always helping with the set up of shots. A lot of time guys are not the enthusiast ones with photography sessions so this is a real treat! 

We wrapped up the Maternity Session talking about potential names and finding the best spots for the end of their session. 

What even BLESSED me more than I have expressed is this sweet lady brought ME a GIFT!!! Do I need to remind you that this was the first time we met? She didn't know me from atom and she was so kind to think of me when we were there for her!!! 

Thank you Jesus for some of the best clients a girl can ask for!! 

Happy Motherhood, Karla!! You will be an excellent first time mommy, I am assured of it... 

Baton Rouge Family Lifestyle Photography Session

This family. GAH!!!

Love them so much! Do you ever just meet "cool people" and know instantly that you want to be friends with them? That's what happened YEARS ago when I met this girl and her soon to be man- Katherine and Blake! We were in an internship at Healing Place Church together in 2007!!!

GASP.... I KNOW.... Where in the world does the time go? 

Back to 9 years ago... I met Katherine and she was the bookish, English, introverted type and that made me happy because I am all of those things wrapped up with some crazy Natty tendencies. Kat was immediately awesome in my book! She loved God and she loved internship and she immediately invited me to hang with her for coffee to talk life. 

Aren't those the best kind of people? Just easy going and fun to be around! Ahhhh... love a good refreshing coffee date! Well, here we are ALL THOSE YEARS later... and Katherine married a fine young fella named Blake who is the cool, sarcastic type (like my hubs but Johnny may have this guy beat) and they have since settled down and just had their third son- Knox.  

That's right- THIRD son!! Ole Knox-y man came after their oldest, Dax and their middle child, Hendrix! Both whom Natty completely adores! 

Me and the littles had more fun than I imagined! We talked favorite candy and crackers and they explained to me about Ironman and Superman and how apparently there is a big difference. I just told them I loved Ironman's suit. They agreed it was cool. 

The two boys were like gold though and made this little family photography session a breeze.  

They listened to mommy and daddy with such perfection. I loved seeing how easy going this couple made parenting appear. (I know parenting has it's weaknesses but it's refreshing to see parenting done so so well.)

Back to the man of the hour- Baby Knox!

He was so smitten on his mommy and was a complete breeze to photograph. The thing with newborn photography is you have to have baby ready for it's shoot by being well fed and preferably ready for a tiny nap. All of which Knox was! We got some great lifestyle photographs with him and was able to capture their relationship oh so well. 

(Blake was entertaining the wild ones in the other room- super dad!!!) 

He had the most darling Modern Burlap swaddle and we made the most of tailoring darling little shots with Knox-y and his Crosses and XOXOs. He complied completely <3

Then I got the whole family on the bed and made sure we got some natural, quality photographs of the whole family interacting together. All the boys made it such a great time and we got some jewels! 

Of course the Prudhomme's live happily ever after...

Baton Rouge Family Lifestyle Session

This was a family session turned lifestyle photography for great reason! This particular family was visiting from California and the other half lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The father of the two kiddos was a long time mathematician at Louisiana State University. His two kiddos and family were all together for the holiday so we scheduled a cozy Sunday afternoon for our session for a group of 11. 

One of the mommy's was highly concerned of her two autistic children cooperating for a proper family portrait. As a client, she was worried this would be problematic but for me this is where I believe some of my best work lies... and the adventure begins!

Clients with a sense of adventure are right up my alley!

We began the session on an overcast afternoon at Rural Life Museum off of Essen Lane. This is an ideal location for photographing because it's smack-dab in the middle of the city off of Essen Lane and it's completely wooded and covered with sprawling gardens. I prepped the family that we would attempt some classic portraits and then let the kids just be kids.

My approach as a lifestyle photographer is always to capture the subjects as they are in real life - couple's being in love and children being themselves. So when parents seem frantic about me getting any good photographs of their seemingly disengaged child, I reassure them that this is where my skills shine.

Lifestyle or candid photography is a chance to just document subjects doing the things they love to do and I am just a fly on the wall. 

With families this size there will always be a classic group shots but after these are done I just say, "y'all play together and interact" and I stand back and catch the magic that happens (even in the rain!). 

Like these such jewels that will be cherished for a lifetime... 

So where some moms of special needs (autistic) kiddos would cringe at the thought of corralling the littles for a family photo session, I say bring them all to me! 

To me, generational portraits are an absolute favorite and I just adored the rest of the family in the background that complemented this all too well. 

To me making a family portrait is to be fun, stylish and simple.

Capturing a family as they engage is the most rewarding form of photography to me.

Everyone exactly as they always are. Such as life. 

Baton Rouge Newborn Photography Session

Ahhhh, a newborn photo session.... What is more sweet than a newborn? 

I am going to share how I come about my images for most sessions...

 I always ask my clients to shoot in their home, nursery or master bedroom. I am always looking for the best lighting in the home. Light is everything within photography. Second, I always try not to pose mommy and daddy as much as possible. I love to capture the family as they are... just them being them.... this is called lifestyle photography or maybe even, documentary photography. It's where I am not posing the frames I am capturing but more of just trying to allow the subjects to do what they always do and tell the story of what's going on. This has always been my desire even when I was 20 years old learning at LSU on my manual camera. I always stayed in the background to try to capture my subjects in my street photography.

This is my end goal always. To tell the story.

To me, I think that it makes the most beautiful and raw images. For instance, this particular moment is something mommy and daddy have done for hours and hours since baby Charlotte was born and I want to capture that for them so they can always remember swooning in her nursery as they try to soothe her back to sleep.

Another thing you will see with this kind of photography is capturing the story of what is going on in the scene. I try to utilize all the aspects of the clients home and surroundings that make up their world. Here I added their beloved albums to the frame.

This is storytelling not posing. 

I added my macro add on to get some of those details that we cherish so much. 

What is more adorable that tiny little toes and baby fingers?!

Mommy and daddy were so happy with their images! And there is nothing more rewarding than to hand off a Gallery to clients and them respond with such love and adoration and awe.

It makes my life complete.... and hopefully theirs :)

So thankful for every client that entrusts me to tell their story <3

Baton Rouge Family Photograhy Sesion

Family Photography Session for the win! 

The weather was perfect, the evening was clear... the skies were like Simpson's Skies and the family was just darling. The Rabalais. 

We chose downtown Baton Rouge for our venue because, duh! it's the best. We started by the State Capital and just sort of found all the in's and outs over there we could possibly use.

I feel like the family were straight out of a JCREW magazine or something fancy like that. They had this sweet, Southern hospitality about them and their outfits blended instead of matchy-matchy which is a huge fashion win for this photographer!! 

Little Liam was full of life and had no problem warming up to me! What a C-U-T-I-E! Seriously, wanted to show Mrs. Natty his silly faces and had all sorts of random questions for me. He actually asked where my child was and then we realized that he thought I was one of their parents friends because Natty didn't know who "insert child's name" was.

We walked over to the grassy area by the State Capital and proceeded to get a ton of amazing shots. Number one, this family was super easy to work with. Number two, the light was golden hour and perfectly setting behind them. Number three, I don't know why I number everything :)

You could tell Little Liam loved his Little Brother so much... They will be super adorable together through the years I am certain. 

These dears made shooting a Lifestyle Photography Session so stinking easy peasy! 

Thank you, Rabalais family!