Oct 29, 20213 min read

Welcome to the world, Braxton

There's something irresistible about a newborn baby. Maybe it's their cute squishy faces, their tiny little toes, or even their newborn smell. People go bananas for babies! When Aurora approached me and asked me if I was interested in photographing her newborn son, Braxton, for a lifestyle photoshoot, I was ecstatic. Of course I wanted to soak up the newness of Braxton!

We made arrangements to do the photoshoot in their home--a very casual environment that everyone was comfortable in. The day before the session I started to panic though. There was rain in the forecast. No biggie, right? The session was indoors. But any natural light photographer knows that an indoor session on a cloudy day is going to have very dicey lighting conditions. I knew I needed to be prepared for even the darkest settings. That meant I needed my external flash or hotshoot.

The morning of the session I was busy packing up my camera bag and running around, like you do, when I stubbed by baby toe. Pain radiated throughout my toe and foot. I knew immediately I broke my toe. ::sigh:: but the show must go on. I very carefully put my broken appendage in my favorite wool socks and some loose fitting shoes and made the scenic drive to Winterset, a town I hadn't been to in years.

I introduced myself to Brock and Aurora and got to meet their kiddos, Brynley and Braxton. I was blown away by Brynley's incredible blue eyes and white blonde hair. What a beautiful child! I knew immediately that I adored this family.

As I unpacked my camera bag and took some test shots, Aurora detailed the rollercoaster that was the last week of her pregnancy and Braxton's birth. All I can say is that she is a total rockstar and rolled with the punches. Aurora receives 6 weeks off for her maternity leave, whereas Brock is able to take four months for his paternity leave. Braxton is going to be one lucky baby to get Daddy snuggles for four months!

You can tell by the photos that these parents are completely smitten with their kiddos. Brynley celebrated her birthday earlier this month and two days later she received the best gift--a baby brother! Brock and Aurora also celebrated their five year anniversary this month. Aurora informed me that each year she takes a photo of Brynley in her wedding gown and she'd like to put them in an album for her to gift to her on her wedding day. My heart melted. As a boymom, I don't get to do those sweet and sentimental things--my boys have zero interest in my wedding gown, unless they can somehow fashion it into armor for nerf wars.

Brynley is only four years old and has a mind of her own. She was pretty resistant to participate in the photos and definitely did not want to wear the gown. She did agree to step into it for less than a minute. I snapped as many photos as I could in that timeframe, but sadly, my camera settings and flash settings were not optimal. She was also not in an ideal place in her parent's bedroom with the TV stand behind her. The family still love the image and asked if I'd be able to remove the background. After studying the photo for a looooong time, I knew I couldn't easily replace the background and recreate the bedroom. I made the executive decision to remove Brynley from the background and create a composite photo of her in a new location. NOTE: I am not a composite artist! It takes hundreds of hours to create realistic composite work and I just haven't had enough practice to make this into a regular thing. But I also knew how important this photo was to Aurora. I chose the autumn bridge background because October is Brock and Aurora's wedding anniversary month and the bridge reminded me of Winterset.