River North, Chicago In-Home Newborn Photographer | Steve, Eliza, Ari, & Micah

River North, Chicago In-Home Newborn Photographer

I may have photographed less weddings than usual this year because of covid, but I’ve had a huge increase in the amount of in-home newborn photo sessions I’ve done and I am NOT mad about it! I love documenting all of life’s big transitional moments with engagements, weddings, & newborns, as well as those harder to see changes that happen year-to-year within families as everyone grows older. All of these moments are precious and deserve to be told in a truthful way, and I fully believe that in-home newborn sessions are one of the most honest ways to capture such a sweet slice of life transition. Being invited into someone’s home while they’re in the process of adjusting to a life-altering event is not something I take lightly, especially because most often I’m a stranger (and thanks to covid I’m now a masked stranger). I hold so much gratitude for the families who allow me into their private spaces.

Sometimes being a stranger coming into a private space when there are toddlers involved, and I should add, toddlers who have had their entire lives upended by the invasion of a new human, means that it takes awhile for them to warm up to me. That’s okay. In addition to that, Eliza had warned me prior to our shoot that little Ari had suddenly developed a fear of the camera shutter sound that they discovered when his dad tried to take some pictures, so I knew that he wouldn’t be over the moon excited to see me once I pulled my camera out. I’m never upset or hurt about this personally, but I fear that parents will be disappointed or frustrated during their shoot because it wouldn’t allow them to get the “picture perfect” images they expect from a photo shoot (I have to stop right now to say that Eliza and Steve, from my perspective at least, didn’t seem frustrated or disappointed at all about the situation. They totally rolled with it!). There’s a part of me that’s hesitant to take pictures of kids crying or feeling shy/scared around me, like I’m crossing a line, but then I remember that when this happens with my own kids it makes for some of the sweetest (and sometimes funniest) memories. I already have some very specific images in mind for a future senior or wedding slideshow where one particular child of mine looks utterly miffed about having his picture taken (and he’s not even a toddler, he’s SIX, haha!). Toddlers especially are so unguarded with their emotions and they haven’t quite reached that age where they can fake a smile on command and I love the honesty they carry on their faces. The pictures from this shoot are honest. They feel like real life to me and make me remember what it was like to have young kids a newborn. And it also makes the smiley happy pictures we started to get at the end of the session all the more sweet because I know they’re genuine.

Anyways, that was a very long-winded way of telling you all that I love this session and am very proud of these images and I hope they resonate with you as much as they do with me. <3