More importantly I am getting to photograph my first niece or nephew. My brother and his wife gave birth April 24 and 10:15 pm to a beautiful baby girl who was only 5 lbs, 10 oz and 18 3/4 inches long. I have to admit as much as I have seen these two with my own kids it is shocking to see them with one of their own. So far they are great parents and excited to be in this stage of their life, but a bit overwhelmed. They have some idea of what to expect since they watched me go through it twice, but nothing can prepare you for parenthood and the exhaustion. I can just see in my brothers and Annie's eyes how tired they are, but they have a new baby. As my brother has said to me several times today, "why are you even thinking of having three Heather, one is just so hard." I just chuckle and say, "I know."
So the first opportunity to photograph my new niece was at the hospital. I told Glenn and Annie I probably wouldn't visit them there, but I couldn't resist myself. The day after she was born I raced from my kindergarten orientation meeting and headed to the hospital. It was 7:30 at night and the room was very poorly lit. This made photographing the couple very challenging. I cranked up my ISO to 1600 and just tested it out. Might as well go for it first thing right? This is one of the reasons I went full frame.
The results were gorgeous! I couldn't believe the lack of noise and how crystal clear the images were coming out. It made me wonder why I never converted sooner. I knew my pictures would be clearer, its just amazing to see the camera at work with your own art.
Here are several pictures of Lydia Claire with her mom and dad at the hospital.
Then today at only 5 days old I of course headed over to the new parent's house to try and get her newborn portraits. I need to read the newborn handbook or watch a newborn photographers in action. I seriously don't know how they get the naked on the belly, sleeping shots. I have tried this now twice, with my friend Christine and with Lydia and I failed both times. At one point we got Lydia undressed and sleeping and then she woke up and rolled over?! My kid didn't roll over until 3 months, but this 5 lbs little girl is doing it already. So I did my best, but she wanted to nurse and all the pictures overstimulated her many times over. Not entirely happy with what I got, but its workable,. I need more practice with this whole newborn thing I completely admit it.
Oh and the blanket we used, Annie made specifically for Lydia so I thought it would be sweet and sentimental to use in her portraits.
I don't know why, but today I only happen to get Lydia lying on Glenn's chest although she was with mommy a lot. I'll work on that next time. I seriously can't believe my brother is a father. We also joked that Lydia refuses to keep her arms in the swaddle just like Erik did as a baby. Must be a Gotlieb trait since Erik definitely takes after me more.
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