Okay gang, I've officially branched out to photographing the wee ones! ...especially catering to busy new mothers with week day sessions that can be done in-home. I've covered a few infants and children previously, but I'm currently researching trends in baby photography and seeking a new refreshing angle to the genre. I'd love your comments on this topic to see what styles are getting parents excited these days.
What do we all think of baby photography trends? If you're a grandmother, father-to-be, newlywed or bachelor dude, I'm curious to know your impressions of baby photography this day and age. Do you find certain poses awkward? Angelic? Creepy? Heartfelt? What do you think works best and what is just plain thumbs down? Here's some eye candy to spark some opinions:
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| strangely bound Holiday Inn gift? |
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| floating baby on a cloud of hands? |
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| naked parents? (I'm with this kid's expression) |
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| squishy faced babies in crocheted hats? |
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| babies a-dangle in hammocks? |
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| pregnant belly with hand hearts? |
All these are fairly formulaic styles in artistic baby portraiture. Some of the more refreshing ideas I've gathered have involved babies wrapped with intriguing things, or placed inside of naturally shaped objects. I've even seen a few shots (which scare me) of babies appearing to have been left in random places, like wrapped and set on the fireplace mantle! Huh? Oh, I found your baby in the bookshelf.
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| "dear, where did we leave the baby!" |
As far as my own designs for posing infants, I do enjoy naturalistic colors, shapes reminiscent of birth, and themes relating to growth as found in nature, such as seed pods, bird nests, flower blooms and fabrics reminiscent of floral membranes. I was recently very much inspired by Anne Geddes' new work called Beginnings. Peruse her work
here to glimpse a few images. She was inspired by nature and the concepts of birth and new life, and worked that still life photography into pregnancy and infant portraits. I love her attention to the details of these intricate floral buds, seeds, intertwining nesting materials, and her analysis of embryonic shapes for babies to fit into. Often the amorphous blob of a baby's limbs cannot unawkwardly fit into things like baskets or teacups, whereas the natural fetal position amidst soft cottons and nestlike comfort suits them perfectly.
Nature seems the most fitting backdrop for babies. They've just exited the most natural place they'll probably ever know, just entering a crazy world just waiting to get its iPhones and high fructose corn syrups into their hands. A newborn baby has not yet been touched by the world and its influences, and I think that so unfamiliar concept is what really sparks my curiosity about infants and capturing them. Everything is new, unknown and pure. That is what should be captured and remembered about this too brief moment in their lives. They'll never again know that sensation of untarnished newness and purity.
