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by Autumn Stankay, Owner and Photographer of SkySight Photography
SkySightPhotography.com
Dear new parents, C greatest joy to ever enter your life! I know you’ll certainly photograph every single moment you can of this wonderful new baby! When clients come to me for a newborn session, I give them a booklet that serves as a guide for their entire first year of capturing their own photos of their child, with monthly tips all the way through first birthday! Here’s a snippet that I hope will be helpful to you!
First of all, my very first tip which is the most important of everything I will tell you... capture the memories in photographs BUT remember replace those memories in your mind and soaking them in as they happen. Find a balance between being behind the camera and putting it down. If you’re like me, you want to be clicking at every yawn, smile and burp. But remember that your baby wants to see your face, feel you present and not always feel “on the spot.”
Photography can be as simple as capturing a photo for the memory, or as in depth as creating a beautiful piece of artwork that will be showcased in museums and magazines. But wherever your photography skills lie, are perfectly
photos of your children the best photographs of all time, if they are capturing the moment that is what matters. Think back on the photos of yourself as a child, were they perfect? Are the photos of your grandparents, which are probably wrinkled black and whites, perfectly lit works of art? It’s likely that your favorite photos are just family snapshots captured of great moments. And that is what will matter to your child when they look back at these photos growing up. This concept is simple and may seem obvious. But many people are so used to photographing everything on their phones these days, they don’t think to ask someone else to photograph photography before cell phone selfies, which is why pre-2000’s era, you’ll see lots of great images of moms and dads interacting with baby, because the other parent would pick up the camera and capture that moment. We’re very focused on selfies and self-shooting now, so don’t hesitate to ask your partner/spouse, “Would you capture some moments of me Instead of shooting with your camera every second of every day, try setting aside some activities for photo shoot days. For example - If you regularly attend the community pool in the summer, plan one day to be a photo shoot day. Go all out on that one day. Take your favorite sun hat, those baby sunglasses they never really keep on, wear your favorite bathing suit, bring the “good towels.” Capture every moment of that day to try to tell the story of your entire summer of visiting the
40 GOALMagazine: A Publication of Go2Goal | Spring/Summer 2020
pool but see how much you can do in one day. Even take a disposable waterproof camera that day. Have fun with it! Then the rest of the summer, you can hang back and just enjoy the memories without the “photography pressure,” When planning professional photo sessions remember it’s about capturing them at their size and milestones rather than an exact “age.” Don’t get caught up on 3, 6, 9 months try for belly posing photo shoot (3-4 months), sitting (7-9 months), and standing with support (9-11 months), then of course the big one-year birthday photo shoot anytime from A phone tripod is a very good (and cheap) and place it on a table or anywhere for that matter, and let it capture the moment without you needing to be behind it! Use this as an opportunity to capture moments (like eating solids for the first time) that you want to be present for, but still want to get in video/
Enjoy the photography journey! Buckle up, it’s an exciting adventure to commit to capturing the first year of your baby’s life!
