Lafleche Masse Photography

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sweet Isabelle

Shooting baby Isabelle was my very first newborn session EVER.

Nervous didn't even begin to describe me.

She wasn't even a stranger's baby, she was my own NIECE.

I think I may have packed up half my house to bring over to my sister's house so that I

would have anything and everything I needed in order to facilitate the shoot and make it

everything that my sister hoped it would be.

I'm not new to photographing newborns by any stretch.

I have three of my own and a few (oh, about 20,000 roughly) photos under my belt to show for it

but it's just different when it's not your own baby. Pressure.

I wanted to get it right, to capture the pure essence of newborn that goes away by about day 10.

So day 5 rolls around and after a week straight of gray skies and pouring rain, I saw a break in the clouds

and the few tiny rays of sun that were peeking through were just enough to be

able to capture her in natural lighting.

It didn't go exactly the way I had envisioned it in my head. I was a clumsy and sweaty mess

trying to lull her to sleep to position her in the millions of positions I had researched online

and the ones that I thought would be perfect in my vision of what the ideal newborn shoot should be.

Isabelle had other plans.

Girlfriend. Would. Not. Sleep.

I began to wonder if all those photos of the babies on all those

other photographers' sites were Photoshopped into those adorable positions that you see in the magazines.

It was so much harder than I thought it would be! I thought I'd drop her or break and

she refused to be put on her stomach for any amount of time.

She even POOPED and peed all over me and our blanket!

After a few breaks to love on the tiny little subject and trying to kiss and shh her into

a deep, deep sleep, I just did the best I could with what I had.

She finally slept but when I moved her from the basket she was sleeping in she was wide awake again...

In the end, my sister was happy with the shots I did get and I got to learn
and get some hands on experience while I'm building my portfolio.

She's such a sweet baby though, even if she doesn't sleep.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Beauty

I dragged my little sister in front of my canvas,

telling her that I needed to get some practice

and to build my portfolio. Really, I just thought

she was really beautiful at that moment and

wanted to capture it on camera.

and then my adorable little niece wanted in on the action too...

She's a natural.

Friday, September 10, 2010

A Beautiful Night

Planning this event is a big deal each year.

You see, our aunts would go to the ends of the earth for us.

They take turns throughout the year to do elaborate girls' nights that

leave us all with full hearts and bellies,

not to mention little gifts to take home to our babies.

Their decor is always special but the company is what we all crave.

It feels nice to be able to get together, talk, laugh, reconnect with wine or coffee in hand...

A chance to leave all the everyday happenings at home and take some time off.

When it comes our turn, each August somewhere between their 2 birthdays
the 8 of us become party planners for a month.
Coordinating, planning, secret meetings.
It's all very stressful but so worth it.

Year 1 was a Tuscan theme.
Year 2 was Asian.
This year, we went with a Spanish/Hacienda theme.

This was our inspiration: A wedding by JL Designs

With that said, I just wanted to share a few shots I took of the day...