I can’t believe it’s already June. Wasn’t it just Christmas? It often feels that way, time does what it does, it goes on.  If parents aren’t careful, the cares of life, laundry and work can cause them to wonder how their children are already 3 feet tall when they could have sworn they were just 2 weeks old. That’s why I love what I do – I get to encapsulate stages of people’s lives. My job becomes so much more than images on a screen when there are emotions involved. My girl Katelyn James (okay, I haven’t met her yet, but I DO get to finally meet her this month for her workshop! Dream. Come. True.), often talks about how feelings are everything to your images. That sounds obvious, but she’s not talking about the random viewer’s reaction to a photograph, but the recipient of them. How you felt on the day your pictures were taken will translate to how you feel about your photos, no matter how beautiful (or not) they came out. You could have photos that are just okay (maybe they were even taken with your phone!), but you adore them because it was the best day ever. On the other hand, they could be masterfully executed, the light perfect, the composition spot on, but that particular day you weren’t feeling your best and that’s all you see in them.

It’s pretty true…when you look back at your wedding pictures, how do you feel? You probably have butterflies again from seeing yourself walk down the aisle, and a full heart from remembering everyone you love gathered in one place. When you look at pictures of your first born child right after you brought him/her home from the hospital, what are you feeling/thinking? Overwhelmed all over again…joy that can’t be explained…a bit (or a lot) scared. Depending on your labor story, you could be taken back to a number of sensations, good and bad. Those are obvious, but here’s a better example – if you were going to get some anniversary photos taken but right before you left, one of your kids threw up, another one started crying for no obvious reason other than to make your day more lovely, and you couldn’t find your other shoe. You show up to your session feeling frazzled and you might smell a bit like puke. Your photographer could do an excellent job on your photos, but all you see is stress. Oh how powerful photos are to our human senses!

Okay so you’re probably wondering what all that has to do with a lifestyle newborn session! This type of session is full of tremendous emotion and wonder that is impossible not to capture. It was an ordinary day for most people, but for this family, it was day 14 of getting to know their new daughter. Emily already can’t remember what life was like without her. Her two rambunctious boys adore their baby sister and loved kissing her on the cheek and giving her little boops on the nose. Oh this sweet girl, she’s going to have fun with those two when she can finally walk and run! I see grass stains and band-aids in her future. But for now, her mama is giving her the princess treatment that she deserves, full of pink bows and blush colored nursery walls.

Lifestyle newborn sessions really are the way to go. I know, I know, but aren’t the beanbags and babies posed on football helmets so cute? I suppose, but I’m pretty sure later in life we’d rather see our baby posed in our arms, sweetly looking down at them with all the love a heart can possibly give. Don’t you want to remember that feeling? That feeling when you’re a grandma one day and you remember your baby girl so tiny and delicate, sitting in a rocker in her room. Now she’s the one with a baby in her arms, rocking her to sleep.