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! 

Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography

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! 

Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography

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.

Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography

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! 

Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography

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

Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography
Maternity, Baby, Lifestyle Photography

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.  

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 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.

baton rouge newborn photography

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.

baton rouge newborn photography
baton rouge newborn photography

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. 

baton rouge newborn photography
baton rouge newborn photography

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?!

baton rouge newborn photography
baton rouge newborn photography

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 newborn photography

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