Arya may not be as little as she was in these photos (this photo shoot was a while ago, as I'm still getting caught up on blogging), but there's no doubt in my mind that she is still a cute little baby! Shortly after doing Arya's Mommy's maternity session, Arya entered the world and I visited her and her beautiful family at their lovely home! Here are some of my favourites from this lifestyle newborn session. I have to say that I'm really, really loving lifestyle photography! A family in their natural environment doing natural things - you simply can't top that! These are the types of photos that families will cherish for years to come!
To the beach! | Toronto Family Photographer
These little sweethearts (more twins!! I'm on a role!) were back and excited for their 3-year photo shoot...except they were slightly disappointed that I didn't bring along my daughter, who is their friend! I took T and Q's family photos a little less than a year ago and of course had a blast at both this shoot and the last! I've never met little girls with as much energy as these little Misses, so I figured the beach might be a fun place to get their energy out and sneak in some birthday and family photos! The girls had fun playing in the sand, riding on their scooters and taking photos with their Mommies. Here are a few of my faves! P.S. T and Q's Mommy, Ashleigh has a wonderful Mom blog that you should definitely check out!
It's twin season! | Toronto Newborn Lifestyle Photographer
A while back I ran a promo on newborn lifestyle sessions to build my portfolio. One of the lovely families that responded to my promo, was blessed with adorable (as in, too adorable for words) twins - a little boy and a little girl! Even their names, Leo and Olive, were too cute to handle! This was my first newborn twin shoot and to say that I was excited, is an extreme understatement! This family welcomed me into their home and I captured some wonderful shots of the babies, their big brother and the family! I seriously could have stayed there and photographed these babies all day, but I'm pretty sure the family would have kicked me out eventually ;)
I still have one spot available for a newborn lifestyle session if anyone out there is interested! Check out the details by clicking on the link above!
Happy Father's Day! | Toronto Family and Baby Photographer
Newborn Model Call for Lifestyle Photos!! | Toronto Newborn Lifestyle Photographer
A couple of days ago, I was contacted by a potential client wanting to do a newborn lifestyle session in her home. I was SOOOOO excited about this!! It made me realize how much I love doing newborn lifestyle sessions! Then this potential client asked for some examples of newborn lifestyle photos I had taken. It was only then that it hit me...I really haven't done very many. It's not that I haven't done lifestyle sessions before - I have done many (though not as many as studio sessions), but I have barely done any newborn lifestyle sessions before. Clients are always coming to me for my studio newborn photography and it makes sense - my studio shots are plastered all over my portfolio and I have a ton of experience doing them! And it's not that I don't love studio sessions, but I love lifestyle sessions equally as much. So it's time I start building my newborn lifestyle session portfolio and for that, I need some willing newborn volunteers! It's time for a promotion!!! I'm doing some portfolio building in this particular area and giving away four newborn lifestyle photo sessions for only $200 +tax each!! That's half of my regular newborn session fee!! Wow, I've never felt so much like a telemarketer.... Anyway, you still get 15 images included in the session fee and up to 2.5 hours of shooting time :)
If you want to book one of these four spots (actually, three spots, since the first has been taken by the client who originally contacted me), please send an e-mail to laurenlawrencephotography@gmail.com. In the subject line, please put, "Newborn Lifestyle Session Promo". Please include your expected due date or date of delivery, your postal code, a photo of your baby's nursery (or if you haven't decorated yet, please describe how you plan to decorate and take a photo of the room anyway), a couple of quick snapshots of your home and a current snapshot of your family (taken in the last 6 months). These snapshots do NOT need to be professional photographs!!
This offer may not be used towards sessions that have already been booked. Other terms of this promotion are:
- The session must be booked and shot by the end of August, 2014.
- Your baby must be under two weeks old at the time of the shoot.
- The session must be shot in your own home.
- Your home must be within 10km of postal code M4R 1M5
- This is NOT a prop/studio type session. The backdrop for your photos will be the backdrop of the baby's nursery and your home.
- You must have a lot of natural available light in your home - big windows, sliding doors...
Just to reiterate one more time - a Lifestyle session is very different from a studio photography session. Almost all of the photos of newborns you see on my website (https://www.laurenlawrencephotography.com) are studio type shots and not lifestyle shots (hence me trying to portfolio build in the lifestyle category). Lifestyle sessions are much more casual, not as posed, focus on capturing family memories and the true interaction between loved ones in their own home or natural environment. They essentially document real life moments. Although there may be some baby posing done, the focus is on more natural images.
Here are some photos of a lifestyle session I did for a 6 month old little boy...just so you can see that I know what I'm doing ;)
Thanks for your interest in this promotion and please help me build my newborn lifestyle portfolio by passing along this info blog post to anyone you know who is expecting a baby soon :)
First Real Ouchie = Traumatized Mommy
WARNING!!! THIS POST MAY NOT BE FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!! Last Saturday I took my 3-year-old, Paityn to her best friend's birthday party. Paityn had been talking about this party for MONTHS...I kid you not! Anyway, we were driving there, and the whole ride Paityn was saying, "we're going to be late, we're going to be late", and of course we were one of the first to arrive.
As we were walking up to the front door of the condo (where Paityn's friend lives), Paityn tripped and fell directly into the corner of the cement building. She started crying, but not in hysterics or anything - it was just your every day little kid cry. So I picked her up and said, "you're okay. Let me see your ouchie". I looked at her face and noticed a little blood dripping down her cheek. I took off her hat and blood was E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!!! I was staring straight into this deep pointy hole in her head that looked like it went way too far down to be considered a surface wound, and the blood that just kept pouring out of it. It wasn't a big wound...just deep...and scary. I started to panic internally, trying not to let Paityn smell my fear. I started knocking on the door of the condo pleading for the security guy to let us in because I couldn't concentrate enough to dial the buzzer and was holding my hand on the side of Paityn's head to keep the blood from gushing even more. The security guy finally let me in and gave me a box of tissues per my request. I told Paityn we were going to go up to the party and drop off the gift and then we had to go to the hospital. Only THEN did she start screaming in hysterics..."NO, NO, NO!!!!!! I'm fine!!!!! I just want to go to the party!! See, look at me - I'm all better!!" Yes, I could see from the continuous blood streaming down your cheek that you looked MUCH better, dear Paityn (note sarcasm)... Anyway, we went up to the party, gave the gift to her friend and there just so happened to be a mom there who was a nurse. She confirmed my inclination to take her to the hospital. In order to get Paityn to leave the party (she was literally acting fine and not even crying at this point, except when I said let's go...then she started crying...), I promised her that we would come back after. At that point, I was already feeling guilty about this promise that would likely be broken. Paityn got to take a balloon from the party with her to the hospital, which made her feel at least a tiny bit better.
Off we went to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. We got there and I have to say that I was incredibly impressed!! We had absolutely NO wait and all of the receptionists, doctors, nurses, etc. were amazing and SO wonderful with Paityn! Coming from California, it was an added bonus for me not to be charged a cent and receive such great care! Gotta love public healthcare!
The doctor looked at Paityn's ouchie and decided she needed some glue as opposed to real stitches. Relief (kind of)! They put on a bit of cream to freeze the area and left us alone in the room for 20 minutes to let the freezing set in. The doctor gave Paityn some crayons and a Dora coloring book to keep her occupied. My mom, who had driven down to help (mostly to support me in case I happen to faint...my hubby was at home with our youngest at the time), went to the gift shop and got Paityn a cute little watch and a My Little Pony toy. We told Paityn that we were having our own party in the hospital, which made her pretty excited.
After the twenty minutes were up, the doctors came back in the room - three of them this time. Paityn looked up at them and said, "Why are there three of you here with two gloves each?". They all just laughed and said that she's a smart girl (of course, I agree ;) ). They glued up her ouchie and told us to wait for the discharge instructions. Paityn was still asking to go back to the party, so my Mom waited for the doctors to come back while I rushed Paityn back to the party.
We got back just as the party was ending, but Paityn didn't care because in her mind she was back at the party and there were still a few kids there to play with. They saved her a piece of cake and some pizza. I noticed as she was eating the cake, that she still had the 'I cannot eat or drink' sticker on that they gave her at the hospital - how ironic #1! Paityn also got to help her friend open presents. She was very excited to give her friend the present she had bought - a Dora doctor kit - how ironic #2! That's the last time I buy a doctor kit for a kid for their birthday.
We headed home and let Paityn rest for the remainder of the weekend. We did go out to dinner and had some weekend fun, but made sure to follow the discharge instructions that the doctor gave us. Paityn was happy that she got to watch Frozen for the bagillionth time.
I somewhat reluctantly dropped Paityn off at Preschool on Monday. I debated whether this was the smart thing to do, since the last thing I wanted was for those bandaids to be ripped off her face by another kid, but school seemed a little more safe than being at home with her overly aggressive but very sweet 17 month old sister. The conversation between Paityn and her friend at school when I dropped her off made me laugh...
P: I fell into a building and got a really bad ouchie - see (pointing at ouchie)! There was a lot of blood.
Friend: Was it red? (while trying to touch her ouchie)
P: Yes. But it's okay because I got to have my own party at the hospital and I was the only one in the whole hospital who had a balloon.
I swear, sometimes she seems like she's twenty-three and not just three ;)
So that was our eventful weekend! I'm pretty sure this experience traumatized me way more than it did her. My hubby is calling me very overprotective now. I get visions in my head of her falling and hurting herself again...must stop!!! Kids will be kids! Hopefully this weekend when we go to another of Paityn's friend's birthday parties it will be less 'exciting'!