The calm, soothing sounds of a Nikon D3

Today Bradley had his first ever photoshoot! Through a friend of Kristin's dad's receptionist's husband's brother (or something like that), it was brought to our attention that Amber Shereen required newborns for some free photo shoots. Quid pro quo, she was giving workshops to some trainees on shooting newborns. You can't be disappointed with that kind of an opportunity, though!

Upon arrival, we were confronted by this petite, unassuming woman holding a Nikon D3, which was half her size! She sure used it well, though, in her wonderful home studio in which she was using natural light to shoot baby Bradley. She also has a lit studio in the basement, which we didn't make use of. Her sunlit workroom had a heater (for baby) as well as a background noise-maker, spewing out sounds of the ocean.

Apparently, we were supposed to arrive to her place with baby sleeping. We thought we would make sure of that using some tricks we've learned:

• We made sure he was stimulated and awake the hours leading up to his appointment,

• Kristin fed him 45 minutes before his big shoot, and

• We went over in the car.

Even with all of these measures, though, he didn't arrive asleep. Since her studio is but a 6 minute drive from our place, maybe an extra drive around the block (or two) would have been a good idea! Nevertheless, Amber worked with what she had.

We started by trying some cute awake poses, but that had mediocre results because an awake Bradley is oftentimes a crying Bradley (and a crying Bradley is not conducive to a serene, artsy newborn photo). That was followed up with some mother-baby shots, which went quite well (check out this early release!), except that Bradley was still in and out of dormancy. When I stepped up to the plate, though, excited as can be for some memorable snaps to be taken, little Bradley peed on me. I guess that's one of the potential perils posed by taking pictures with a naked baby! Oh well!!!

On the bright side, her setup gave me the idea to buy a baby whitenoise cd from iTunes to help with his sleeping. There is another happy ending, though: Bradley did end up falling asleep. Amber will be giving us (8x10") shots of 5 different poses within 6 weeks.

What about you? Do you have any photography tips for shooting unpredictable subjects like newborns?