Just 5 days old, Miss Hayden was a perfect angel for her first photo shoot. Holli  and Graham came onto the scene a couple years ago when some of our best friends moved into a house 2 doors down from them. H & G are a good time, all the time. They have a wonderfully supportive and loving group of friends and family surrounding them, and are always the life of any party. Almost exactly a year ago, my partner and I were sitting in their backyard sharing drinks before walking to Ribfest with a group of friends. It was just a few weeks later that they got the good news.

The next time I saw the two of them, just before Easter, they had a 5 day old baby girl! The first thing H & G did when I arrived with all my photography gear was to show me the outfit they’d picked out for their daughter to wear to Ribfest 4 months later. The second thing they did was show me the silver pot and veggies that Graham had organized for a particular photo he had in mind. It’s always a pleasure to work with a couple that is willing to experiment and play around a bit with different concepts. I was at H & G’s house for several hours hanging out with the new fam, and trying several unique photo setups in their living room. It was long, but exceptionally productive newborn shoot! Take a look.Miss Hayden was such a good baby during her shoot! We worked at her pace, and took frequent breaks to let her breastfeed throughout the afternoon. Her parents were wonderfully patient and it really paid off. One of the best tricks we implemented to keep Miss H sleepy was to preheat each setup with a $14 heating pad before trying to pose her. Most of the time, she snuggled right in and stayed put until we tried to move her to the next setup. If only every newborn was such an exceptional model! She even cooperated while we stuffed fresh lettuce leaves and towels around her in a cooking pot for this one of kind shot.

Once we had captured a few different looks for the baby, we moved on to portraits of the new family, all together. The love in the room was palpable during this session, and I think you’ll find you can see it in the photos.

I can’t wait to see what kind of person Hayden grows up to be. I’m predicting a sweet, fun-loving, mischief maker that’s also really into BBQ. One thing is for certain, she will grow up well loved and well fed. Congratulations to this beautiful new family.