First 48 Session Welcome Guide

Being invited into a hospital room to meet a baby that is just hours old is one of my greatest honors. My goal is to make this First 48 session effortless for you. Among the hustle and bustle of the hospital, I hope that this is a moment where we can slow time and document your family as you welcome your newborn.  Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to be a part of this sweet time.

Session length

The session will last about 45 minutes. Time can fluctuate based on hospital schedules.

Preparing for your session

You don’t need to lift a finger! When I arrive, I’ll take a second to tidy up and set up the room to capture the best photographs of your family.  If you’d like to incorporate family members or any family heirlooms into your session, please have them ready to go when I arrive.

What baby could wear

Again, my goal is to create authentic photographs. However, I do love babies that are naked (diaper only) or wearing a simple (white is my favorite) onesie. I love to use the hospital blanket and hat.

What to expect

My goal for First 48 sessions is to create authentic images. You do not need to wear anything special or have anything special planned for siblings. I will simply photograph moments as they are. I will provide some guided interactions, but I simply want you to focus on enjoying your baby. I truly believe it’s the images of pure, uninterrupted moments that you will treasure years from now. 

June 2017 - Part 2

I finally got around to editing Landon's birthday pictures. Landon - at the beach - by myself- while trying to take pictures of him proved to be very difficult. You can see we had an outfit change mid-session. As we were getting dressed in the car I told Landon how we weren't going to get wet until after mommy took pictures and he promised to stay dry. Well, that lasted all of 10 minutes, but it wouldn't be pictures of Landon if he wasn't in the ocean fully clothed! You'll also see that sand throwing was a thing. While I don't think this is some of my best work, I think it does capture his wild personality. 

Because waiting for your milk post-nap is just so difficult. Well, I guess when mom stops to take some pictures it is :) 

My time with this bump is coming to an end so I set up the tripod, got out the remote and took a few self-portraits. 

After taking a few bump pictures, Landon saw me working on a thank you gift for our nurses at the hospital (a bucket full of junk food). He found a "special treat" and asked if he could have it. It's amazing what this baby will do for a Nutty Bar... 

His big personality is so exhausting at times (mostly just because I'm 100 months pregnant and would rather just sleep all day), but, gosh, I love it.  I can't imagine life without my silly boy.

Messiest Cake Smasher | Downtown Charleston, SC 1st Birthday Milestone Session

I met this family bright and early for a session full of baby snuggles and cake eating in celebration of this little guy's first birthday. As soon as I pulled my camera out, he flashed me the best smile and I knew this was going to be a good session.

This was such a sweet family. It was apparent from the beginning of the session just how much they love each other- and how obsessed they are with their baby! And it turns out that our husbands work together and we have a few mutual friends. It's funny how small the world is!

We walked around Downtown Charleston and hit the "hot spots"- Rainbow Row and Waterfront Park- and then headed to White Point Gardens for some cake.

You would never know from the pictures, but K didn't actually eat any cake! He might win the title for "Messiest Cake Smasher Who Didn't Actually Eat Any Cake." He loved running his hands through the cake though.

K, I hope you have a wonderful dinosaur birthday party and that year #2 is full of many wonderful memories!

Fresh Mainland Arrival | West Ashley, SC In-Studio Newborn Mini Session

This perfect little newborn was photographed in-studio in West Ashley, SC in our mini session.

She stayed awake just long enough to investigate what was going on, and then off to sleep she went for the entire hour of her session.

We had to include a nod to Dad's Naval career in our newborn mini session. They are a submarine family like us!

Mom and Dad moved here to the Charleston Area from Hawaii while she was pregnant, and baby was born shortly after arriving.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful time in the life of this family.

A Cool Spring Evening | Downtown Charleston, SC Sunset Maternity Session

This Sunset Maternity Session in Downtown Charleston is from back in March. Despite the fact that we'd had some really warm weather, it was surprisingly cool on this evening. Mom hung in there and everything turned out beautifully!

Charleston didn't disappoint and gave us beautiful blossoms and a golden sunset.

Mom is from Charleston so I asked her if the city ever loses it's charm. Of course, she replied "No."                                                                                                                                                     How could it?

Toeing the Line Between Baby and Toddler | Folly Beach, SC Milestone Mini Session

We spent an early morning photographing this beautiful little girl and her wonderful parents at Folly Beach during sunrise. 

We arrived first thing at Folly Beach before the sun was coming up over the horizon for our beach  session. It was a gorgeous sight and the light was perfect.

I previously photographed this little girl for her nine month milestone session. Look how she has grown!

She is such a serious little soul. You can see it in her sweet face that she is thoughtful and pensive.

She would get brave enough to splash in the water, but then to run to mommy for a snuggle when the waves came in a little too fast. 

As she got more comfortable, she loved to point out the birds.

She is right at the age where she is toeing the line of baby and independent toddler. It is such a lovely and bittersweet transition and capturing this stage is such a privilege.

June 2017 - Part 1

June is the month that I need to go slow and go fast all at the same time. It's the last month before Rhett joins our family, but it's the last month before Rhett joins our family - know what I mean?! 

The month started off with some typical nesting... planting flowers and putting down new mulch. I'm pretty sure I also did major yard work when I was super pregnant with Landon. At least one boy had fun :) Landon is really into watering the yard and likes to announce that he's being a "biggggg helper!" 

Did you notice his shirt tucked into his undies? When I saw that I ran inside to grab my camera because it just doesn't get cuter than that! 

I finally finished the baby's nursery and I LOVE IT! I am thrilled with how it turned out even thought it took me 35 weeks and a few meltdowns to figure out. I purchased an entire airplane blueprint set that I obsessed over for weeks. When it finally arrived, I hated it and ended up switching back to 'ol faithful - nautical/sailboats. It's probably for the best anyway, the boys will probably share a room at some point (Landon's room is also nautical/whales). 

I also almost changed the baby's name, but "Rhett" survived (and so did his already monogramed homecoming outfit!)

Landon is still obsessed with airshows, airplanes (which he calls "the Air Force") and helicopters. 

We did even more testing on Rhett. This pregnancy has been much tougher than Landon's. This time around I had morning sickness and then got really sick with a fever, which apparently is bad while pregnant, the same week Trip was working nights. Thank the Lord my mom drove up to keep Landon. Then Rhett tested at increased risk for Trisomy 18, which was terrifying. That required additional blood work, an echo ultrasound to check his heart and now weekly non-stress tests. AND because Landon was thought to have IUGR, I've done two extra ultrasounds to check Rhett's size (those were just fine with me though!). Anyways, we will be happy when a healthy baby is placed on my chest and this will all be behind us. 

We also had maternity pictures taken by my friend and fellow photographer, Alisha at Hampton Park (downtown Charleston). It's one of my favorite spots.

Despite how cute Landon looked he was SO bad. Landon is always hyper- but this was next level. 

I have such a love-hate relationship with the lovely age of three. He is already asking a million questions and there are moments when I just want a few minutes of silence. But then he does sweet things like tuck Catboy and "Monkey George" in for his nap and my heart explodes and I want him to be three forever. 

Hopefully the last half of the month is just as fun. I could use some rest, but honestly, I'm enjoying how fast time is moving at the moment... until Rhett comes. Then it needs to go slow because babies just don't keep! 

What to do with your kids art work?

Years ago, before I was a mom, I was horrified when I watched a friend throw away some art project her son had made at school. I got the "mom look" and was told I would understand one day. 

Flash forward a few years later and now I get it. My son goes to school 2-3 days a week and there is so much art! I couldn't just throw this stuff away, but I quickly realized I needed another way to preserve his art or we'd be up to our ears in paint and paper. So, thanks to Pinterest, I came across some tips. I started a Chatbooks album just for Landon's artwork and I thought I would pass this amazing idea along to you. So, here you go... 

A tidy, 5 step solution to the piles of paper your kids bring home.

1. Make a stack of art and photograph it all at once. My pile lives in the dining room. It takes the pressure off of photographing the papers as they come home because you know you'll carve out 15-20 minutes once a month (or whatever frequency works for you). 

2. Photograph the art work. I am doing mine with my iPhone because this is my 3 year old's art work and I'm not spending too much time on this. I have my stack next to me and I take a picture of his art on a solid white background. 

3. Next, I quickly edit my pictures within my iPhone. Again, we are not going to over-think this (repeat it with me)!  I basically just increase the exposure to get my whites- white. You can access some basic edits by clicking the little arrow across from "Light". 

4. Then I go into the Chatbooks App. I already created a book called Landon's Art. I upload the pictures I just took. 

5. When my book is full, I'll order it. Done and done.
I've decided to only keep art that is really stinking cute and/or if it has his handprint on it. Everything else can go because now I have a picture in a sweet little book to enjoy for years to come! 

Seriously though, how easy is that?