Photographing Newborns

Newborns have to be one of the toughest subjects to photograph. I didn't think so, other photographers make it look so easy! It is hard though and I will tell you what you don't see in those precious pictures.

The first thing you don't see is the crying. Newborns cry and cry and cry. They don't want to be awoken. Unfortunately newborns don't fall asleep in the setting they will be photographed in. So once awake, they love being in moms arms. So much so that you try and put them down, they cry. So moms try and feed them. Newborns love that, but no mom wants that picture. They already have a ton and are not paying a pro to take more. So mom spends 15-20 minutes feeding and baby poops and pees everywhere during the feeding. Mom then has to clean herself and baby and try to place baby in position to be photographed. Baby cries again. That starts the cooing and noises. Meanwhile I am moving all over the place because baby moves. One minute you have the shot if they just quit crying and then they move their tiny head away from the camera and you have to move and hope to get the shot again. Lets keep in mind that baby looks terrified. Their little eyes are trying to find the cooing and figure out the flash of the camera. They want to know where mom is plus who this strange person is and they just can't help but look terrified. No photographer wants to hand over a c.d of pictures of a beautiful, terrified baby. You want peaceful, happy baby. Let me tell you it takes time. Lots of time. You can't tell a baby to "look this way" or tell them a story that might make them stop crying, or get them used to you that they don't look terrified in your pictures. You can't tell a baby to look like they are asleep, you have to wait and wait. You can't tell a baby to smile or laugh, you have to hope and work hard at it.

However, when you get that one picture after all the crying, feeding, pooping, running around, the terrified baby expressions and time, it is quite precious.

New York Wedding

In August I flew out to New York to photograph Bella and Maz Akhtars wedding. This was my first official New York Wedding and it was awesome! Bella is from Argentina and Maz is East Indian. The ceremony was surprisingly Western Traditional. The night before there was a Henna ceremony where the women in the wedding party were all "inked". Bella wore a Sari and everyone ate homemade Indian food. It was truly an experience that taught me so much about photographing a wedding.

Keeping a wedding on track surprisingly comes down to the photographer. You would never think so, but its sorta true. In original discussions with Bella I talked her into seeing Maz and taking formal pictures before the ceremony. (On a side note, they were already married. This ceremony was for family and friends but you would have never known.) Bella and Maz were married smack dab in the middle of Ramadan, which meant that a large portion of guests could not eat or drink until sundown. They planned their whole ceremony around this religious obstacle. This meant that the ceremony would not occur until late and immediately following the ceremony would be a cocktail hour. So any pictures that Farage Photography, me, wanted to take of the family and couple wouldn't happen until, yep, dusk. Not the ideal time to take pictures. I explained to Bella how long pictures took and how prudent it would be to take the important pictures before the ceremony. She agreed. A week before the ceremony that all changed. They decided to not see each other. Formal pictures were taken in the dark, I kid you not.

The other time obstacle I faced was getting both the Groom and his men plus the Bride and her ladies photographed. Separately. Hidden from one another. In a *decent* location. The ladies were taking awhile. The guys were oblivious to time. I had to get the guys all dressed and corsaged for their pictures in a somewhat short time. It always blows my mind how much bossing around I have to do at a wedding. The guys were all photographed and the pictures turned out fairly decent. Before I left the ladies to photograph the guys I told them how long they had and they were next. I come back to them after the guys to photograph Bella getting into her gown and then photograph her and her ladies. I walk in and Bella is getting her hair sprayed. I tell her its time to get into her dress and she should wait to spray her hair. Her hair dresser won't listen. Turns out, Bella steps into her dress and doesn't pull it over herself. This is the first time I ever have a bride do that. So I wait. Literally, the ceremony is within the half hour and guests are everywhere. Finally she is done. Then she has to have a cigarette. The woman who is there to help and works at the event wisely tells her No. Bella flips. They go back and forth and finally Bella relents and agrees to put on her dress. You can tell she is pissed and so the lady relents herself and takes Bella into another room at the event and she has a smoke, indoors!! I have to wait. There is literally nothing for me to do. Finally she emerges and we take the pictures. They turned out amazing of course but what an ordeal!

In my first post I stress how important it is to take doubles and I STRESS it here again. At first the doubles were for blinking, but the New York wedding brought about a whole new reason for doubles. What you ask? Let me tell you: Rude guests. Yes. Who would have thought that reason? Never me. But sure enough I had an excellent picture of Bella and Maz dancing their first dance and only in post production did I realize that an invited couple were BOTH making faces to the camera in the background. I limit my photos to a strict amount and by the time this discovery was made it was too late. It had to be included in the final amount. I had no choice but to blur them to extinction.

So the lessons to be learned and walk away with are:

1. Be prepared to shoot in the dark and bring adequate light. Make sure both Bride and Groom are told about the horrible, blurry and grainy pictures that can result in this situation and release yourself of all liability.

2. Make sure to keep everyone on track of time. Do not depend on anyone else to do this. Be prepared after all your hardwork keeping everyone on track that your bride will disappear to have a cigarette 15 minutes before the ceremony, not dressed or photographed.

3.Make sure to always check your ISO.

4. Take doubles of everything.