Hi all! Its Lynn again. All these brand new babies on our Facebook feed got me thinking the other day…feeling all the feels about newborns, and photography, and why its so important to take 4 million (ok maybe not that many) photos of your children when they are born. I started offering Fresh 48 sessions so that you are only responsible for 2 million of those photos…and I can take the OTHER 2 million 🙂
Here’s how it goes every time I arrive to photograph a Fresh 48 session. I walk into the hospital room and I whisper hello. I don’t know why I whisper… I just get all ‘hushed tones talk-y’ when I get to the room. So weird, I know 🙂 I go over and wash my hands and then go right over to wherever that brand new baby is. And then I immediately start crying. Every time. I am getting better at NOT openly weeping, but I still get a little choked up and fight back tears.
Now these are not even always babies or families that I know. There’s just something special and overwhelming about there being a new life in the room. Something so touching about being invited into such a personal space to document it all. It hits me somewhere deep in my heart and literally moves me to tears. BUT I am getting better about not losing it!
Fresh 48 sessions became important to me for a couple reasons. In the winter of 2010 My husband and I welcomed our first child into the world. Our little man, Jack, was born prematurely and spent 4 weeks in the NICU before he passed away. Having Jack, and losing Jack, taught me so much in such a short amount of time. I saw how fleeting each of those first little moments are. How quickly time passes in those early sleep deprived days; and how once a moment has passed, its gone. You think you will remember it all forever, but I’ve learned that memories, despite how hard we try to burn them into our brains, fade. When we had our daughter the following year we were blessed that she was healthy and strong, and she came home with us as we had hoped and prayed for. She was so longed for that I thought I would never be able to forget just how tiny she was, or how skinny her little chicken legs were, but my tired mom brain eventually made those memories foggy.
Fresh 48 Hospital sessions are different from a traditional newborn session. They are done on location either in the hospital or in your home in those first few days and weeks. I don’t bring any props, and the main attraction is the baby. I document your baby in those newborn onesies that are baggy around the legs, and too long in the arms, but will be outgrown before you know it. I capture the wrinkles on the soles of their feet before they get all chubby, or the way that tiny newborn fist grips Mommas finger. Fresh 48 sessions provide a way to document all those little details. The flaky skin, and the fuzzy tufts of hair; the first baby yawns that make us all swoon, and that impossibly tiny hospital bracelet.
When Im booked for a Fresh 48 hospital session I mark the due date on my calendar and then wait almost as excitedly as the Mom and Dad to be for the date to come. When I get that text message that you’ve been admitted and its ‘Go time’, I get nervous butterflies in my stomach! I remember how exciting and nerve wracking that time is. And then comes the fun part of getting the call that the baby is here and I can come and photograph the heck out of everyone! I always tell the new Mom that there is NO NEED to primp or straighten the room. You just had a BABY for goodness sake! I’m not a guest you need to do anything for. I’m just a fly on the wall, there to freeze the day forever in photographs. Photographs that have Mom AND Dad in them! I want Mom and Dad holding the baby, and not a camera those first few days. Having siblings there is always fun, and adds a level of ‘Welcome to our crazy world!’ Having two children of my own I love seeing the older sibling taking it all in, for better or for worse 🙂
One of the best things about my job is getting to see these little newborns grow up and become little people. Whether it is a year later at a one year old cake smash session, or at a family session when they are toddling around. I am always amazed at how BIG they’ve gotten, and how fast time has gone by! And then…because Im a giant sap, there is usually another tear in my eye! 🙂
And because I feel the need to prove Im not a crazy person–I challenge you to NOT get a little weepy, or at least emit a loud ‘Awwwww!!!’ when you see these gorgeous little eyes staring back at you. I love my job. 🙂
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