During my maternity leave, in between nursing and making decorations for Nate's christening, I would take pictures of our newborn. There was a duality in that setup. I was the photographer, but being the mother of the newborn, I was also the client. The photographer sees the shot as an artwork, and rarely has a connection with the subject. But the mother sees the shot as a documentary--a way to freeze the moment and immortalize her memories of her child. It was then, under that duality, that I slowly began to figure out the style of photography that I want to pursue:

Portraits with a photojournalistic approach. Pictures that reflect the lifestyle and personality of the baby/child/family. Shots that document the moments that the parents wish to remember forever. Images that are as natural as possible. Lifestyle portraiture under natural lighting.

These are the kind of pictures that I want to have of my own growing family. These are the kind of photos that I would frame or make an album of. Not the Photoshop-ed baby with perfect skin and zero blotches. Not the postcard perfect family that I would not even recognize was my own.

I started by taking pictures of Nate. Now that I am also doing photo shoots of other families, I thought it would be apt to share the pictures that I took of Nate when he was just weeks old. Here is my bed shoot set. I had a ton of fun doing this one, with Nate doing all sorts of poses and expressions. I no longer removed the baby pimples and the molting skin because I wanted to remember him exactly the way he was when these pictures were taken.

Here is hoping there are other parents out there who also appreciate the kind of niche photography that I want to pursue, and maybe they would let me take photos of their family.

During my maternity leave, in between nursing and making decorations for Nate's christening, I would take pictures of our newborn. There was a duality in that setup. I was the photographer, but being the mother of the newborn, I was also the client. The photographer sees the shot as an artwork, and rarely has a connection with the subject. But the mother sees the shot as a documentary--a way to freeze the moment and immortalize her memories of her child. It was then, under that duality, that I slowly began to figure out the style of photography that I want to pursue:

Portraits with a photojournalistic approach. Pictures that reflect the lifestyle and personality of the baby/child/family. Shots that document the moments that the parents wish to remember forever. Images that are as natural as possible. Lifestyle portraiture under natural lighting.

These are the kind of pictures that I want to have of my own growing family. These are the kind of photos that I would frame or make an album of. Not the Photoshop-ed baby with perfect skin and zero blotches. Not the postcard perfect family that I would not even recognize was my own.

I started by taking pictures of Nate. Now that I am also doing photo shoots of other families, I thought it would be apt to share the pictures that I took of Nate when he was just weeks old. Here is my set on the classic "sleeping naked covered by a textured blanket." I no longer removed the baby pimples and the molting skin because I wanted to remember him exactly the way he was when these pictures were taken.

Here is hoping there are other parents out there who also appreciate the kind of niche photography that I want to pursue, and maybe they would let me take photos of their family.

Last weekend, I had an awesome time shooting the bundle of energy named Ada and her parents, Jeremy and Lenny. Ada just turned two so this is a bit like a birthday shoot. The Zafras spend quality time by going to parks and the outdoors. So for our family photo shoot, the family spent the morning running around the park, and I spent the morning chasing after them. It was a lot of fun, and a challenge too! Ada was not generous when it came to smiling, so I had to up my game in order to catch her elusive smile. The parents also had a ton of gimmicks up their sleeve, so we got ourselves some pretty sweet grins from the birthday girl.

My take on photo shoots is to capture images that are as natural as possible, so these are 100% natural light, maybe 80% candid and 99% no props (1% goes to the lollipop that I gave to Ada as a bribe).

Happy birthday, Ada!