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Elliana | St. Louis Newborn Photography
Posted on May 10, 2012
Most newborns come to our studio but this year I am also offering in-home sessions too. Nicole wanted me to capture her sweet Elliana’s first days at their home and it was totally my pleasure! Luckily it was HOT that day so we even went outside for a few semi-posed shots (that is something I can’t promise for an in-home session but the stars aligned and she slept for us!). Their home was absolutely gorgeous, Elliana was a doll but the funniest part of the whole morning were the animals! They have two dogs and three cats who are VERY protective of their new baby! Most of the shots I can’t show you because they were taken when Nicole was nursing but the pets wouldn’t leave Nicole’s side! It was hysterical! And take a look at this shot I happened to catch when one of the cats was truly done with me being there…
Scary right? When I snapped it I couldn’t believe I’d caught him looking at me like that! Really the animals were super sweet which is what made this even more funny to me!
Ok, how about some cute baby girl photos instead of scary cat photos now? HA!
Even beautiful homes don’t always have the best light so if it’s warm enough I think going outside is a good back-up plan… especially if the house has a big front porch because that light is gorgeous!
Getting shots like these is really best done at the studio where Kim and I can both be there so that we’re making sure safety is first, but luckily I had the 30mm lens with me so I could be sitting close enough to Elliana that I was just inches away at all times. We also got lucky that the hot temps and her own little sound machine tucked in the basket with her kept her sleepy!
Thanks so much for sharing your baby girl with me Nicole! Her little grin in that first shot totally kills me!
Happy Thursday everyone!
Filed Under families, in home session, newborn | 1 Comment
Welcome Libby | St. Louis Newborn Photography
Posted on April 20, 2012
Oh man do I have a sweet treat for you on this rainy Friday! Libby was so sweet and so pretty and so fun to work with this week! She’s is TEENY tiny at only 5lbs, she was hungry and really hated being moved/posed BUT in the midst of all of that we managed to get one of my favorite galleries! Her mom mentioned that when their son was a newborn they had photos done in all black and white and while they adore those images she wanted something a little brighter, girly and colorful! I love that! And I really hope we nailed it for this awesome family!
Ok, I have to start out with Brady! He was one of our favorite three year old kiddos ever! SO articulate and so funny and so cooperative! Most young siblings have just had their worlds rocked and aren’t so into getting their photos taken so we have to break out the big guns (bribes!) but not Brady! As long as I pushed him in the swing outside he was super happy! Seriously, I can’t say enough about how awesome this little guy was!
See? Even Libby loves him already! Look at that smile!
We were SO excited when we saw that Design Aglow had used some of our images on their new Baby Photo Overlays! HERE is the link so go check them out! They are AWESOME and so versatile!
{The crown is from Naptime Knittery}
Wondering where we got that cute hat? Oh, in all the free time Kim has now that she’s not working as much she’s taught herself to knit! And she’s become super awesome at it super fast! Do crazy talented people drive you crazy as much as they do me? HA!
I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Chris has a big game tomorrow, I have two photo sessions and by the end of the day I think we’ll all be exhausted! I’m thinking pizza and game night ending with C and I watching a movie together! What’s on your list for the weekend?
Oh and remember that 15 comments gets these guys a free 8×10!
Filed Under children, families, newborn | 4 Comments
Libby | St. Louis Newborn Photography
Posted on March 2, 2012
After rescheduling today’s session, I got to spend this rainy+cold day with my kids (absolutely JUST what I needed after an insanely LONG week) which was great but it means it’s 10:30pm and I’m just now getting to the computer. Tomorrow I have eight boudoir mini sessions and Sunday we have church plus an engagement session! Of course my busiest week since December happens to fall on the week soccer starts for Chris! When it rains it pours! ALL good stuff but still a lot!
Anyway, last week we had the awesome honor of working with sweet little Libby! She was perfection! And we got to work with a few new headband designers which was so much fun! I’ll link them all at the bottom. A big thanks to Ellen and Ben for trusting us with Libby’s first photos!
I can’t tell you how great it was to work with a sweet new baby again! We had quite the dry spell but hopefully it’s been broken! New baby’s are our passion!
Headbands used are from Lillian Grace, Paper Frosting and Dolly Priss and her Mommy Miss. Hats are from Naptime Knittery and Gremadcha. Thanks ladies for sending us such beautiful items!
Filed Under newborn | 4 Comments
the studio. | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 19, 2010
After leaving one of our favorite family’s newborn session a month or so ago and driving the 45 minutes home we started talking, seriously, about how much easier it would be to have a studio space for our newborns. This last year we’ve photographed a lot of babies and although we love EVERY second of our time with the babies and their families, we HATE that we have to drag around so much gear all the time. You should have seen the back of Kim’s Suburban! Rolls of paper, baskets, scales, blankets, props, hats, headbands, baskets, blankets, light gear, backdrop stand and did I mention the baskets and blankets? Oh and a heater and sound machine and the list goes on.
We realized that we spent at least an hour (if not more sometimes) driving to the location and then about an hour of set-up time. Figure 2-4 hours of actual shooting and then another half-hour take-down. Sometimes we’d be gone for 6-8 hours and not all of that was actually working.
We also have lots of ideas of new props and poses but the thought of dragging MORE gear around kept us from really moving forward.
So we brainstormed and contemplated renting/buying space but ultimately decided we’d give it a try at our house. The Allen home. We had already converted our formal dining room into an art room a year or so ago and it would be big enough to have the dual purpose of shooting newborns when we need to shoot newborns and still letting my kids be creative on a daily basis. So we got to work on the art room!
And OH MAN!
SIX trash bags of junk, a front porch full of yard sale and two storage tubs for the attic and it was almost ready! A day of cleaning and a long night of emptying Kim’s SUV plus organizing everything and we were even closer! Then just a few samples on the walls and DONE!
The NEW Fresh Art in-home newborn+baby studio!
Pretty rad right?
We are in love.
Is it perfect and magazine worthy? Nope.
Is it clean and organized? Yep.
Is it perfect for my family AND our business? Yep.
Will it impress other studio owners? Nope.
Does it work perfectly for our newborn clients? Yep.
Do we love it? HELL YEAH!
Yesterday as we photographed little Will we got to really test it out. And it was awesome b/c we are at my HOUSE. So Kristie could go in our back family room to nurse and be nearly as comfortable as if she were at her own home. Mike could sit in the front living room and chat with us while Will ate. They could also cuddle on the couch while we worked and watch the whole thing! We had snacks and drinks if they needed them, tv if they got bored, etc. It was cozy and comfy and worked out great!
Here’s a few shots of Kim working in the new space…
We love it!
And the best best best part?
Because working in one space is SO MUCH EASIER for us and such a time saver we can CUT our newborn session fee down significantly!
So it helps you AND it helps us. We really think this will be the best fit for everyone!
That being said, if you REALLY want us to come to your house we can talk about it but the price will be significantly higher (back up to where it used to be at $500). And for all the moms out there that have already booked, we will honor our original agreement and come to your home… OR… we will credit you the difference in price for prints if you come to us instead.
Before we offered our newborn session for $500 and that included the newborn session, a 30 minutes mini maternity session and 25 birth announcements.
NOW we are offering THIS:
And THIS:
Do these savings excite you as much as they do us?
Being able to make things easier on us, allowing us to actually be more creative AND giving us room to lower our price a bit is a total WIN-WIN and we are SO excited about this new chapter in our business!
The ONLY other thing we have to talk about is how this effects our summer sale!
WE ARE HONORING OUR SUMMER SALE!
Did you hear that?
That means that IF YOU ARE DUE IN JULY your session fee is 50% off! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS PEOPLE!
And if you are due in June or August your session fee is $187.5 or 25% off the regular price of $250!
Kim and I are crazy excited to start really working in the studio so share these discounts with ALL your friends! This summer will be the summer of babies here at Fresh Art!
YAHOO! GO!
Filed Under behind the scenes, newborn | 17 Comments
Baby Will | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 18, 2010
Today Kim and I got to do TWO big+fun things…
1. hang out with Kristie Cromie of L Photographie and
2. play in our new studio!
And both were totally awesome! As was meeting her sweet husband Mike and even sweeter little guy Will!
Kristie is a super talented photog here in St. Louis and it’s always amazing to meet other photographers… especially when you respect their work, have lots in common and can learn so much from each other. It really was the perfect session to break in the studio!
Today was the first sunny day in WEEKS but it was still too chilly to photograph Will outside all naked, which is what we were dying to do, so instead we bundled him up and shot the new family… in front of our front porch… which is funny b/c having to look around your own yard for a new and exciting location was HARD!
Luckily this family wasn’t hard to make look beautiful! Doesn’t Kristie look AH-MAZING for just having a baby 7 days ago?
Being a photographer herself, Kristie looked at our work and requested a few shots… this one with the owls was one she wanted b/c the owls are from his nursery!
Even with LOTS of awake time this little man certainly delivered the goods! He posed like a champ! AND it was AWESOME to have all of our props at hand in the studio! It is seriously going to make photographing newborns even better!
Thanks to the Cromie family for coming over today and sticking around long enough for us to get all the shots we wanted! We had a blast and can’t wait to hang out again soon!
Filed Under newborn | 8 Comments
Harper | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 10, 2010
On Mothers Day, we got to hang out with 6 day old little Harper…
This was one anticipated little girl! You might remember her story HERE. It was so amazing to see Amy with a baby in her arms, for Colton to have a sister and for Jim to be the Daddy to a little girl. It was the PERFECT way to spend our Mother’s Day!
Seriously, is she not gorgeous?? And she was so sleepy! Which is great for us, like putty in our hands!
This is also a great time to share that we have big plans to expand our offerings for newborns! We will still be offering the full Fresh Art newborn & maternity experience, which includes us coming to your home, but beginning in June we’ll also be able to offer studio newborn sessions. Not only will this allow us to reduce the rate for someone who is only wanting a newborn session or willing to come to us, but also allow us to be able to photograph more newborns. Win, win! Jodie & I will be busy getting ready a dedicated studio space in her home and we couldn’t be more excited! More details soon!
Filed Under in home session, newborn | 6 Comments
lucas – [St. Louis Newborn Photographers]
Posted on April 2, 2010
*** (March Fresh Favorites winner will be announced in the morning!)***
If you had told me even a week ago that we would have a new, four day old baby, outside on April 1st I would have said, “HAHAHA! APRIL FOOLS right?” But we did! Because St. Louis, being so very St. Louis, went from winter to July in about a week when temps hit almost 90 yesterday! Who has high 80′s on April 1st? I guess we do.
So we totally embraced it and little Lucas couldn’t have been happier with the warm breeze on his tush!
Jessica and Gabe live in the city and with the hot temps allowing us to go outside Kim and I were DYING over the endless possible places to stick that tiny baby! But when we walked to the back of their building and I saw the fire escape I about peed my pants I was so excited! And Kim, being awesome, took the shot that was in my head and made it an awesome reality! And Jess and Gabe were AWESOME about not freaking out when we took their 4 day old baby up three flights of stairs, laid him down and photographed him! HA! Thanks for being so cool you guys!
This kid seriously slept through the entire session… a true dream baby! And it was great b/c every time he even squirmed we just handed him to Jess who nursed for us on demand all afternoon… worked like a charm! A full baby truly is a happy baby!
Thanks Jessica and Gabe and little Lucas for an awesome and WARM afternoon!
Filed Under newborn | 10 Comments