My favorite moments in photography are the ones I capture when no one’s ready. Sure, newborn photography is mostly sleepy poses that take a lot of patients and strategy, but the moments in between are just as perfect. Piper was determined to be my rule-breaker. I’ve photographed “newborns” that were 6 weeks old and surprised me by sleeping like a dream. So I thought at 5 days old, this session would be smooth sailing. This little lady had a different idea. She tried her best to keep at least one eye open the whole time. Luckily, she slept for a little bit. No matter what happened that day, I’m so pleased with the outcome.

Parents, this message is for you: Get In Those Pictures. I’m telling you, they are priceless, beautiful images that will be cherished long after you’re worried about how tired you look or what your roots looked like or what the scale says. Parenthood is beautiful in it’s rawest form. These precious days will pass by quickly and you’ll soon miss the days of middle of the night feedings and holding tiny feet in your hands. I sometimes joke that I’ll take the shots anyway and keep them to myself until you’re 80, when you’ll really want to see them.

As you can see, these pictures of this family together are nothing short of stunning.

Just. breathtaking.

have I mentioned how much I love my job?