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.  

baton rouge family lifestyle session

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

baton rouge family lifestyle photography session
baton rouge family lifestyle photography session

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!!!

baton rouge family lifestyle photography session

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

baton rouge family lifestyle photography session

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! 

baton rouge family lifestyle photography session
baton rouge family lifestyle photography session
baton rouge family lifestyle photography session

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. 

baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic

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.

baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic

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. 

baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic

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!). 

baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photography- autistic

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

baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic

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! 

baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic

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. 

baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic
baton rouge lifestyle family photographer- autistic

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 Family Photography Session

Ouch!! My blog game has been WEAK!!I These are Spring pictures for this darling family and I am a wee behind! I absolutely love getting to shoot this family though so I could not keep all of it's goodness to myself! 

Everytime I go to photograph a family I ask what they would like as their setting. Claire also known as Clarice is fabulous at sharing her vision! Down to the clothing choices and headpieces, this girl loves to curate moments like the best of them! She chose their neighborhood that is nestled off of Highland Road that lends to beautiful backgrounds. She also requested some cozy home photos that are more lifestyle photography . WHICH I LOVE. 

While Claire was getting the finishing touches on her Lila aka Yaya (as Louis likes to say) me and Lou stepped outside to get our spot set up. We started outdoors just stepping right out their front door where the beautiful azaleas (don't quote me on the flower bit- they could be roses for all I know) were in bloom. 

Mr. Louie boo boo was a doll and romanced Natty with some fresh picks off the bush.  We had a small lesson on what thorns were and he proceeded to show me how to choose ones that were ok to pick. (Ok, they are definitely roses because they had thorns!! I got it!)

baton rouge family photographer

Their latest addition is Miss Lila Claire is pictured below in that fantastic bow! (I had the opportunity to do her Birth Photography last August. Post here. )

baton rouge family photographer

Mr Lou is quite the charmer and warmed up instantly to the camera especially when it came time to give his Yaya hugs... Seems that the kid loves to love his Yaya... 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

Maybe just a little too much on that one there Lou!!! 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

We could not leave Gussy poo out the shoot when we came back indoors! He was missing being in the limelight! I don't know if all Dachshund's are as friendly as Mr. Gussy pants because that boy is just the most outgoing pup I have met! Not a grumpy Gussy at all! 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

This girl is seriously just a babydoll and her roly poly baby bottom is the icing on the cake! 

baton rouge family photographer

If you look closely next to Claire's magazine worthy self, you can see Lila's determination gameface! Eyes bright and tongue out like she's on a mission! 

baton rouge family photographer

Louis's prayer hands are the best here! Next we will teach him business hands to take after his daddy! 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

We sent the boys away to get some shots of just the girls! Does that baby face make anyone else melt like butter? Lord, Yaya! 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

And this is what I love about lifestyle photography. You just capture what is happening around you. After shooting the girls together, we went to find the boys and walked into Mr Louis's world of entertainment! The kid has no lack of energy and imagination! He keeps everyone on their toes but mainly himself! 

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

Or on his belly. 

Like I said, he has quite the imagination. 

baton rouge family photographer

Unc, my faithful assistant that day and amazing husband everyday, was watching Yaya at the end so we could get some one on one's with mom and dad. Isn't he going to be the cutest dad in the world?! Lawd!

baton rouge photographer

We ended up back outdoors for mom and dad to get a shot or two together! They of course had company! Being a parent means you are never alone again!! Ha! But really who would want to with those cuties at your heels?

baton rouge family photographer
baton rouge family photographer

Baton Rouge Family Photography Session

I like a woman who knows what she wants. Possibly, because I was not that woman for so long but oh, how the times do change. Meet Anatasia. She wanted sun flare. Lots and lots of sun flare. Upon leaving the shoot she even asked, "can you add the sun light to all the images". Uhm, not how that works but I will see what I can do :) 

maternity session

So we got that sun flare. Lots and lots of it. 

maternity session
maternity session
maternity session
maternity session
maternity session

Joshua and her were just darling and all about going with the flow of the session. I brought a favorite cloth from India for the ground and I let Joshua dose off for a nappy poo while we got some images of this Russian beauty. 

maternity session
maternity session
maternity session

We did have to wake him up eventually. 

maternity session
maternity session
maternity session

And he was a fantastic participator. Not per usual for the males :) 

maternity session

The two could not make a bad image if they tried. Just gorgeous. Plain, flat out gorgeous. 

maternity session
maternity session
maternity session

But baby is coming in just a matter of days so get all the sleep you can now because life will be forever changed soon!! 

XOX- Natty

Baton Rouge Family Photography Session

By golly we truly adore spring down here in Louisiana! Everything is blooming, the air is thin, the breeze is here and there is actually sun for the first time in weeks!!! Glory, hallelujah. (I just went church lady on ya! But that's how good it feels) Good bye, Winter!! 

I had a darling, little shoot with some darling little babes two weekends back! I can't tell you how precious these three were. The shoot was namely for Collin, the bambino, whom just turning a whopping ONE but it turns out the other littles were just as much a part of the action! 

Colin's mommy is very good at crafting :) 

Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography

We ended up at LSU's campus because, well, you can't have a hot air balloon just anywhere on a windy day! So, turns out the Quad is an excellent choice for warding off windage (that can't be a word or if it is it sounds inappropriate) Anyways, back to my story... 

So we had a good ol time shooting in the non-breeze of the Quad and the Littles made their way into the limelight with their little brother and really knew how to shine. Sweet Georgia and Ian aka awesome pants kept things quite entertaining. 

Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Session

And after lots and lots of silly faces and precious moments we had some family time with lots of Cheetos bribery. There's not much a cheesy, crunchy chip can't solve. 

Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography
Baton Rouge Family Photography

All in all it was a fantastic shoot with a fantastic family!

Life is certainly more eventful with lots of kiddos around :)

Baton Rouge Family Photography


The end.