Lessons

Lesson Info

Newborn Boy with Mom (Brady)

All right well we have a very special guest this morning and first baby excuse me and that is if you are familiar with our one of our first workshops with jasmine star hurt jasmine's first workshop we had a five day workshop that was a wedding in a re alive wedding some people think it wasn't really but it wass and so we are thrilled tohave back laura march banks and billy with their three week old baby brady so welcome laura thank you so much for coming back you were gonna try to heat this up a little bit before we get started so what we're going to dio since we did this yesterday but since he is out and tell me his name on my great brady mr brady let's have you sit right here now typically in the studio I would actually not have mom holding the baby if she brought him up in a car seat or anything like that I would have her not holding him in this case he's out and he's just been fed so there's no problem here we're not going to get hungry too quick brady is down to a diaper correct? ...

Okay now in our studio we do naked babies every day all day however, since we have a virtual audience in their tens of thousands of millions and millions of people out there we certainly don't want to offend anyone culturally some people you are not comfortable with that so we are going to keep a diaper cover on him today or even just the diaper so just keep that in mind that's a personal preference you also have to decide when your client comes in what their comfort level is very, very rarely do I have a client tell me they do not want naked shots most clients come in expecting to do little making shots and that's what I want but there are many cultures when a client perhaps from a different country comes in and they will make it very clear we do not want any and some of it is nudity including tops on little girls and things like that. So that's ok it's just better to listen and to know what their preferences are to go from there so we're getting this one is I think it's blowing every time yeah, we've lost power again. Unfortunately that is the downside is the circuits blow so we may he's out and I made you go ahead and get started ah, couple things in my studio we have heating pads, we have hand sanitizer, we can go ahead and let us have him in that if we can't we have hand sanitizer, we make a big deal about that when a client comes in, we always ask before we touch the baby and um before we touch the baby once we ask I will take a bottle of hand sanitizer and I sprayed I put a little on my hand tonight right in front mom, I'll usually say something like oh my gosh that's so cold now I say that to every client that comes through here and it sounds kind of silly but what is it that I'm really doing when I do that kind of acknowledging that I know you have a brand new baby and that this baby is you know, very precious and we want to take care so when she sees me do that, it means you know, it's it's just so I have something she thinks about is just sort of adding to that level of okay you really care about my baby? Well, he does have a little diaper okay, perfect we'll leave him in his diaper so that is typically uh how we will do a baby now mom would not be holding the baby at this time, but we would have a conversation. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to kind of talk to you as if you were mom coming in. We're going to go through some of the things that I just want you to know during the session number one postures really important yes ma'am on don't know that's not the easiest still don't fall off of it but what happens when you sit up straight? It obviously is very slimming through here gives you a very nice neckline, so I'm constantly gonna be saying, ok, go ahead and set up straight ahead, sit up straight thank you. And we talked about that she's no thanking me where if I just said it during the session, you know what? Sit up straight, sit up straight it's an irritant to apply it so we have that conversation, so posture is really important. The next thing I want you to remember very natural when you're holding a baby toe actually separate your thumbs from your fingers just like you're doing here. We typically do that, but when you do that, it looks like you're gripping or it's a little more masculine, so I'm constantly gonna be saying, tucker thumbs and when I say that, don't hide them, you need youto have won, but just bring them into your fingers. So just if I say thumbs in that's what I'm looking at their, uh, the next thing is if he were naked, which he's not, um I would warn you that you're probably going to get wet. In fact, I would warn you're probably gonna get worse than that, and so what I would tell you is that there's a ninety nine percent chance you're gonna get wet and when he goes I want you to lift him off of you and just let it go right on the floor is that okay? And mom's usually are like are you sure? Are you sure? And I explained to them it's so much easier for us to clean up off the floor and if honestly you get wet he will not go next to you again it will be cold and uncomfortable so we asked please go right on the floor now a tip that we have I mentioned it yesterday is when I tell mom that I never put a background with if I had a naked baby this background would not be under this chair because obviously she lives him out and he's goes in the background that's more work for me so we mentioned it yesterday you khun by a tablecloth of plastic tablecloth put it under the stool and that way if the baby goes it's a two second cleanup job and no big deal in our studio we have wood floors so typically it's not a problem for us but if you're in somebody's home you need to be cognizant of that um if you're using a background there's no reason to ruin it unless maybe you were doing a madonna shot where it's a full standing sweep then your backgrounds gonna get wet but you're gonna have a show stopping image so that's okay um the next thing is a lot of times when I need the doll, if you don't mind, um, a lot of times when you're holding a baby if I think they went this way. Oh, that one over there. Very cool, poor baby has no clothes, okay, I lied. We're doing a naked baby, okay, um with fur on him, a furry naked baby. All right, so when you're holding a baby and I do use a doll and I do always show the client everything I'm doing with a doll when you're holding the baby, if I haven't holding them close to you and I say, look at him it's very natural to kind of pull back like this when you do that, that creates unwanted lines through here, so, ah, lot of times you don't want that, right? So a lot of times I'm going to say, I'm going to say chicken neck. Now I know it sounds silly, but it kind of reminds me of, like, chickens in the yard and so what I want you to use if I say chicken neck, that just means stick your neck out and you're almost faking looking down, what that does is keep your neck nice and long and elongated, so, um, I say chicken neck I say sit up straight. I want you to sit up straight if I say thumbs and thumbs in last but not least, I will be asking you to kiss the baby. So if I say, go ahead and give him a kiss, I actually do not want you to pucker, because when you pucker, you actually get lines through here. Nobody likes those either. So you're just going to put your lips as close to his skin as you can without touching it and just keep them soft. No smile and that's all I need from you so real quickly sit up straight thumbs in chicken neck. You got a good kiss that baby, you got it. So you got all them and don't get wet in this case, you won't. So we're going to go ahead. Actually, you know what? I'm sorry she keep that because we're gonna go through the poses. So what I'm going to do is a siri's of poses. Teo today, there's some of my favorites now, if she were a client, this is how I would speak to her for you educationally these are the five poses I'm going to show you you can set a timer if you like again it's cold in here is my only concern if it doesn't work it because of the temperature not because it doesn't work but I'm pretty sure he's out so we're going to go through the syriza poses thes air the five poses in twenty minutes that are guaranteed b guaranteed to be a beautiful session we're going to do those real quickly so once I start shooting I'm not going to stop it all because I want to get through this siri's and show you really and truly how fast it is also want to remind you this is not all I d'oh this is the first thing I do because I want to make sure I have the money shots and then I have the rest of the time to do what I want so we're going to slowly start on wrapping him take the first blanket off I should have had her do that while I was having this conversation I need to ackley made his body to this temperature because it is quite chilly the other problems my hands are very chilly so we have heating pads we use all the time in the studio and peters and things like that but this is the most common technique you start a fire over here right that scary uh all right sorry hang on to this for a second what time my hands are really cold I promise you so I just I will have to touch the baby if that's okay I have washington my promise all right and this is helen by the way, I haven't introduced helen today so helen say hi to everybody helen has actually been with me for seven years now. Um eight years holy cow helen has actually started out as a photographer is a very uh right out of school photographer has become the most amazing photographer with baby she is our baby expert when I'm on the road and does a fantastic job so she will be assisting me today now what happens is people out there are going to say but I don't have an assistant will remember I shot for the first thirteen years alone everything I learned I learned to do it alone so if it any point I decide I want to prove to you it could be done alone I may have to step out but otherwise just to speed things up because we have a couple extra babies today we're gonna make that happen all right? Almost there, all right? He is so good it out that's perfect just quite calmer here now with cones in the studio I'm going to show you this later we actually have comes that we provide our clients with our name on and they can keep so we are able to comb their hair as we go on brushing out of the way if they don't mind which we always ask before we touch a client we never physically put her hands on a clan I will ask the client during a session I'll probably do it too today because it's habit I usually say I'm gonna move your hair is that okay? I'm gonna move this is that okay? And about the third time I ask you stop asking because at that point I broken that barrier as long as I don't touch anything that's not appropriate they don't care all right let's go ahead and take off that other blanket if we can now the first pose we're going to get him and pretty quickly so he stays nice and toasty warm and that's another thing we didn't talk about it these poses are made to keep theo baby super close so they say stay super warm ho there you go just kind of oh, hey, buddy, I just put him up against your skin for a second and we're just gonna gently keep that just so he doesn't get too cold there you go. Okay the first pose that we're gonna do I'm gonna help you with it you got it hiss body is going to go right up against your chest and his little cheeks should be about cheek to cheek with you now I want you to make a big net but I really need you to wrap it in really tightly so most people do this then they have big elbows out there I need a second in your hands are gonna go all the way so what's gonna happen is you're gonna end up with a tight little ness it's going to keep them nice more and we'll start there and I am so sorry I know I'm going to startle him because I know my hands are chilly but all that you do as much as you can rotate him around at least if I startle him it's gonna be I mean he's gonna wake up so you go a little man all the way let's go up on this side here you go ok a big nice nest hello bud touch him just a little bit it's so he could get used to that cold temperature that's perfect take this hand and slide him up so his cheek is closer to you there you go but hi you don't tilt your head towards him if that's okay right there intact this hand underneath him and you could feel how cold my hands are so I'm trying not to help here alright bring your nose that way a little bit more good girl right there I'm going to physically move his head if that's ok just in this way I know but I'm sorry I'm sorry that so mean huh I knew that was gonna happen all right now again, imagine that there were no diaper. I'm gonna just take a test shot real quick and I need to see him coming up here. Right? Okay, okay. So turn your nose this way a little bit more and I'm gonna have you swing your body around a little bit more dropped this hand down a tiny bit to cover that diaper if you can. Now this I'm actually not going to say too much. We talked about it last yesterday. Keep forgetting there you go right there but we're hiding all the little boy parts good your eyes out of the camera but not gonna do a big smile because he's not going to smile at all dropped that front hand down to cover that diaper for just a little there it is right there. Good nice told back beautiful chilled out just a little bit right there. Beautiful thumbs or good right there there's no whole good and soft smile. There you go right there. Hold on, let me just see where he's going and he's all over the place. Good. Now tilt your head in towards him and just close your eyes and you'll turn out just a little bit more, right? They're beautiful and I'm just waiting for this little tongue there you go, hold on, give me one finger good helen turned his head your hands might be warmer than mine turn his head just a little more I've got a lot of shadow in there so I gotta get this in here whole lot more. This room is eating a lot of my light so I'm gonna see if I can bounce in a little more light that's gonna be too much helen got outside so I can talk, you know quick, hold on. Yeah, hang on one second, get a light test that's much better turn your nose towards the light a little bit more and pull her hair that mom's hair back and the same thing. We're just going to tuck this hand down just a tiny bit mark ok, lf you could just pull back a little bit psychotic right there. You have to do. No, no, not this time. Good right there. Good right there, there's one beautiful. Now just bring your nose in towards him, close your eyes again and actually separated. Bring him away from you just a little bit. Put your lips right on the side of his their guns right there that's beautiful. We're gonna work right there hold on a second I'm waiting for his eyes take your hands back behind a little bit more the more time we see, the better there it is waiting for him hello just pulled a hair back just a little bit on both sides on mom beautiful hold on wait a minute little time relax right there hold uh just waiting for a space you can see the redness in his face beautiful and one more real tight drop your hand down even more there you go beautiful right there turn your nose towards the light and keep your eyes closed though there you go and she's got one little hair on her chin you got right there he's the culprit he is he's like what are we doing mom and you can see he's just busy so what I'm waiting for is moments like that because if he's going to be opening and closing his eyes I have to cut a time it toe when he's a little bit in a good space right there and waiting for it mom just relax lips I'm waiting for it one second uh almost there just waiting for his eyes because he's kind of a in what we call the in between he's caf there you half open half closed beautiful now when you see the dull okay so keep him right there the next shot we're going to do I'll help you with him but you're in this position we're gonna rotate around his little bottoms going come up above your chest and then we're gonna have you hold it you make a little cup thumbs in and really it behind his head as much as possible so his little toes should be kind of touching you right at your chin and I'm gonna go ahead and let you start to turn him kind of cancer so darn cold like like for the diaper oh did he move? I thought that's what that little red face you're going to bring your legs this way a little bit oh, I know but it's so hard being a supermodel so early, huh? Right out of the gate and I want you to pay attention to the tools were using this man photo stand is incredible it gives me all that speed I don't have to worry about knobs that's awesome swing this way a little bit more if you don't mind there you go. I'm gonna tuck this hair here and then cover your ears okay? We're good well, that was not me who did it good. Okay, turn now this is perfect but I want to see your chin out and I want to see more of him. So start turning this way a little bit and torque his little head this way a bit more and I have to get that lightness face so start moving is actually lean his body there it is right there so you can see how that light came out I know sweet pea were so mean tilt your head away from me then I can see a better profile on you as well right there take your thumbs in good just like that and the more I could see his face the better she just kind of turn him out chin out a little bit more good that's beautiful let me just check the light real quick okay, that should be really nice there's one that's beautiful uh tiu hu that's good now before that's beautiful before I have you do this I'm gonna go back to the camera but what I want you to do is you're going to bring a ticket one hand on top of the other since he's so tiny gonna have you bring him towards you and tilted first going to tell this head way out your lips are gonna end up right there but before you do it babies don't like it so I'm gonna be ready for it so till him and your lips go right here no puckering we just really want a nice shot of his face took that come in way under I know and I'm gonna lift him up he's actually sinking too far down anyone tio you're now listen, wait oh I got a surprise can I have a tissue let's go ahead and change him real quick actually take a tiny break and actually change him and wash your hands I'm out here ah so let's just talk ok? I will wear this one just below that's right? That's right great idea. So wait do you guys mind just quickly sharing one like maybe ah ha moment you had yesterday something that really inspired you that just like really touched your heart? So go ahead and start with a car in here so introduce yourself and just share something from yesterday. My name is caryn dowdell on my twitter handle is katie proto books I think my arm moment was swaying sandy said that you're selling yourself not a product and I think that it's really important I think having that relationship with the mother and with children rainy makes things absolutely I'm seventeen you around los angeles, california and my twitter handle is at s j f r a n j uh karen are caryn kind of stole mine by another one? That kind of hit me yesterday was never look at it as a what's in it for me attitude carol davis from so my twitter handle is at carol davis sixty five um, I would say my moment was more of a quote and that was if you want to leave footsteps in the sand you have get your butt out of it e uh hi omar gonzalez, I'm from new jersey uh and I think my moment was definitely uh not putting your images out there because that's a big thing when you're thinking about making sales and things they think the biggest thing was just keeping the images yourself until you're ready to sell them so I think that was very important my name's karen meisner I'm from elmira, ontario, canada and super excited to be here bythe my aha moment was definitely, um that it's about not necessarily making money but making time for yourself and your family and spending with people that you love so that was my big thing that I took away from yesterday stole mine um my name's nathan chilton and I'm uh well my twitter handle is at nathan chilton and from the sacramento area east of there and I'm a lot of things got to me but uh the thirteen hundred club idea kind of resonated with me and practically speaking the calendar the hole calender planned out four weeks in advance kind of thing color coded and all that that I'm going to be implementing that as soon as I can figure it out so I'm that was and then seeing how that tripod works blew my mind yeah alright sandy are gonna jump back over thio going way five babies only we're on a mission here okay? So we were in this pose I'm not going to have her put him back in there because I got a great shot of that normally, I'd have a little more time. I got a bonus, though, so it's all right? And I did get hand sanitizer, too. So all is well, all right, so now we're going to go into post number three, which, uh, we're gonna do is we're gonna take him and I'll help you do it first, so we're gonna move him into this position. Your hand goes right through the diaper, his little head's gonna end up in your elbow and he's going to be looking out towards me. So hang on. One second. I'm gonna have this elbow. Let me get the lights moved first before you even move him. And, helen, if you want to set up for the six month old on continuous light, you could go ahead and do so. Um, okay, so sure we're good here. Yep. Just like that. Your hand goes right through his diaper. And I'm so sorry I cannot touch him. But for some reason, my hands are ice cubes. I would have been screaming at me. Okay, now, he's, a newborn. We talked about this yesterday, so his face. You can see he's like this. So I need you to take this hand and put it on his chest like right by his collarbone. And when I'd start you got it right there you're just gonna lift it up you see what happened there when she did that all of a sudden we've got a cute little face turn him into the light a little bit more because I am gonna speed it up a tiny bit beautiful good and turn his head I no sweet pea don't get mad at me oh it's chilly goodness okay now but now now push him up just a little bit more again there we go just get us face off there we go right turn into the light a little bit more salt that's on his tummy if you could just kind of take it in a little bit okay so hang on oh so starry mad at us we're gonna rotate him over the top just a little tiny bit more weight like this legs relax same thing lift him up your elbow comes up with a whole lot more just lift it out towards me madness does he take a pacifier by the way he does okay hey I know you can't be hungry when you just ate you need a oh easy hungry alright turn them towards the light a little warm is going to get a test real quick so I could see where the light's going and watch we can actually keep shooting with even a fussy baby it's where you catch the shots uh, let me have a no, you that's. Perfect tournament away. Hey, perhaps there's no one. There we go. Wait, go! Beautiful there's. My guy was a loud noise, he's going cross eyed and he's like oh, there we go. Much better. All right, we're losing a little light here now for this we talked about you giving him a kiss I need you to instead of lifting him this way lifted out away from you a little bit more. You could keep him close, but it just kind of put your arms up. Your lips are going to end up right about there, but we need a lift him up again he's sinking down the whole bring us head out again can't tuck that. Um e I know tuck your hair back I know, but I get a model so lips right about they're just not there go this hand I want to see less of it if possible, so just pushing finals hard, okay? Right there. Wait, it's going to happen and that's okay, when they're going to the bathroom there's the best. So just lean in lips right next to him. So you look at him he's going? Yeah, that's awesome, this is good stuff there we go, buddy. And hang on, I'm just gonna get well. He says I like going gonna pull your hair back on my time. So we got that shot. That amount of time over there you go lips right about there and try to push him up. Hide those fingers candid. Kind of the way under. Hey, buddy. I know it's hard, huh? Another thing I should note is, most of our clients are instructed to have long sleeve shirt so that her arm there would normally be pitch black. I just need to get up over the arm a little bit more more out here. And so if this were all black, you can imagine. There you go, that's even nice. Just relax and they come in, you know? Have you had it with that pose? I've got a good version of it, so we don't have to torture you. Okay? I'm just gonna wait for his face. That's. Perfect. I'm just gonna wait for him to relax. Close it is. Oh, I love to hear you are. Good job, but a little more light in those eyes and we got it. Beautiful. That's. Awesome. Okay, now I just need you to swim in a working position. Just and he could go upon this shoulder here so just like you would at home right now you got him another pair one hand under his bottom like a little cups the other hand up on his back that's beautiful let's bring him up a whole lot higher so his head is right over your shoulder head a little bit to get its hands on. You know, he's like your crazy now again in my studio. If this were happening, he would be being nursed right now. Um the only reason we're not doing that as we have other babies we have to get in, but we would definitely stop it. Give him some more food even though we had some because he's a hungry man, huh? I'm gonna bring this hand out so you can see he could be fussy turned your knees this way a little bit and your nose back that way. Are you going? You're gonna be looking into the camera beautiful right there he's got to be right, then just lean your face into him a little bit right there. Beautiful. So really focusing on mom knows back towards the light just a little arm's gonna test this eye first beautiful, I mean, get a light test that we just bring your body around us, the hair right there beautiful again this would be the shot that we want to see that cute little baby bottom gorgeous right there so we're gonna fix your hair again he's doing good he could be a mad as he wants on this one and just watch your fingers nice and soft that's perfect okay soft smile right at the camera is beautiful right there good that's excellent now just relax tilted the other way close your eyes and turn your nose in towards him well we're going but sorry it was like baby torture your wedding went down like this your uh bringing way up and over so his head is like relaxing air we go not just tilt your head and that's perfect I think just this shot I promise I'm not into baby torture that's cute with her beautiful chin out again and we'll let him go good close your eyes again thumb down and on his back and I was going to come in for tight shut right they're beautiful and we'll stop with that let's go ahead and let him out and take a break because I don't want to make him too crazy now what I want to show you later is what we actually got out of that if I can get his hands and feet real quick that would be nice just put him in a cradling position because now he's mad it's okay as long as you're okay so sorry take this hand make a little gun like this so it took three fingers in and you're gonna actually hold on just like that keeping those fingers tucked in there oh, hi, sweetie. Gonna hang on no way. See if I can get his little thumb around making him too. Man go ahead and open up a little bit. I know, I know. I'm sorry. There it goes now. He's, open here you go. Got him a deal. You know what? Use the other hand. It'll be easier for him. So put your hand in his other hand, I'm sorry used this hand but used the oh, here we go. So he's not going to love us for it, but you're just gonna lift it kind of a way I need to be right about here is what I'm looking for the black on your shirt he wants to eat it now turned his fingers towards me a little bit more so I could see more of the opposite way actually turn your hand and there it is right there. Beautiful. Now I need to make sure the lights right put your lips. Let me hang him second gonna put your lips right here it will be done with this shot hang on, get this way out because it's, just your lips we're armed on sweet pea it's almost over there, too. Soft, soft, soft lips. That's. Gorgeous. Right there. One and two. And now, last thing. Just make a little cup with your hand like this. And you're gonna hold his feet just like this. Using the black of your shirt. Too light turn a little bit this way, or teo has a background. Let me test that. You could post cute toes. You've got some good wrinkles in there. Check that. Good. You can see the bottom of this if it's a little dark bringing around just a tiny bit. I could also move the reflector in, but we're gonna let this little man take a break and we're good to go. All right, let's, let him go for just a second. Thank you. Um, I'm gonna have you, uh, helen, I'm gonna have you put him in a little outfit and we may bring him back in just for a real quick little individual. So ghetto.