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One thing that I absolutely love about photography and being the one to capture these moments, are the many different and unique stories that come from them. I want to be able to blog about them to not only share my experience as the photographer but the raw moments behind them. My good friend and amazing writer Denalee Chapman has teamed up with me to collaborate on most of my posts in which she has helped combine my thoughts and also through talking with my clients to tell their stories. For my first post on the blog I thought I would share my newborn session with Coral.
>>> Young Lance Esplin has lit up the lives of his parents for all eight years of his life. When he was just 18 months old, Lance’s parents (Kenzie & Shea) began trying in hopes to give him a sibling. Between deployment and failed fertility treatments, the emotional disappointment was intense. Thinking they may never be able to have another child, they were absolutely delighted when Kenzie got the positive pregnancy test in 2016. As expected, nine months later (this January) Lance became a big brother. He dotes over Coral Anne as much as her parents do. When she contacted me a few months into the pregnancy, I was thrilled when I learned I’d be able to join them in their home for a couple of hours to photograph the miracle that was brought this family.
In preparation for the shoot I arranged for Bloomer’s Flower and Décor to make a beautiful floral crown for baby Coral. These guys are amazing, so if you are getting married or need flowers for any occasion, definitely give them a try because they do not disappoint! They’re not a cookie-cutter flower shop … you give them your request and their imaginations take over to create gorgeous one-of-a-kind masterpieces. Check them out on their Instagram page and you’ll see I speak the truth! While you’re there, take a look at their re-gram of one of my personal favorite pictures from the shoot, also featured below!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPvv-W6BNHX/?taken-by=bybloomers
Overall it was such a great shoot. When I got there I immediately grabbed a few shots of Mom & Baby. Those are always so tender. But while Coral was being fed and after many attempts to get her to fall back asleep, I headed out of her nursery to set up the living room for shooting. They had the perfect space with lots of natural lighting from their incredible windows. Let me say here: I TOTALLY FORGOT ONE VITAL ELEMENT. It could have totally got Coral back to sleep fairly easy! Generally when photographing babies I remember that our best friend is the heating pad. When getting little ones comfortable for the bare bum shots, the heat makes it natural and quick. By this time I remembered the heating pad and we got it hooked up and as soon as she hit the blanket for a few minutes, Coral was fast asleep. But it all worked out even without the extra heat in some of the shots. I love it when the little miracle of newborn smiles happen when I’m around. I snapped away and captured one of those miracles with baby Coral.
All in all, it was a rewarding shoot. It was especially fulfilling realizing that the only miracle wasn’t the smile I captured – the greatest miracle was Coral.
