Modern Fine Art Portraits in the San Francisco Bay Area - Anna Myers Photography Blog

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Toddler Portrait Session in the Rose Garden

I have been so busy with family sessions this fall, I have fallen behind on my blogging!  This session was at a lovely fall location at the Berkeley Rose Garden. Madeline is 15 months old and *loves* her stuff animals - can you find the stuffed animal friend in the pictures below?  She is a multi-faceted charming toddler who was a treat to document with her family for some great bay area family portraits .
Here are some of my favorites...

Halloween Portraits with Anna Myers - Making a Difference with Operation Smile

This year we have something special for Halloween - professional Halloween studio  portraits!  Every October we work to raise money for the wonderful organization, Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org), and this year we will be doing a Open House Fund raising event at the studio on Friday, October 31st from 10am to 3pm.  Bring your baby, pet, family and friends to the studio for your halloween portrait in costume - no need to sign up, just show up between 10am and 3pm.  Details are in the flyer for the event (click on the image to view it bigger):

Newborn Twins and Big Sister - Photography Session Celebrating 100 days

Celebrating a baby's 100 day birthday (Baek-il) is a tradition in Korean culture, and Mimi had me come to the house to photograph her beautiful twin girls along with her spunky 4 year old daughter. The twins were actually 103 days, but having everyone available for the newborn family photography session was more important in the long run than the 3 extra days.  The baby's are fraternal twins (can you tell which is which?) and I was actually able to tell them apart after just a few minutes.  These darling girls were very smiley, even though it was a sweltering hot day in San Francisco.  Their big sister is an enchanting child with a wonderful imagination.  She is very proud of her baby's. Mimi loves black&whites, so we planned the session to create great black&white prints to add on to their existing body of black and white fine art family prints.  Here are some of my favorites from the session...
 

 

Best Ages for Professional Baby and Infant Photography

This is an article I wrote recently on baby photography and the best ages in the first year...

Photography is an important tool for documenting the milestones in a baby's development.  Many families choose professional photography for these times to create artistic images as professional archival prints that will last for generations.  Knowing the importance of this task, many parents wonder, what is the best time for baby photography?   Here is a guide for what you can expect at the different stages of the first year or so related to professional infant and baby photography.

Newborn -  Newborn photography session should ideally be done in the first three weeks - particularly the first 10 days. In the first 10 days, the babies are easier to work with as they are less fussy and they will not have their baby acne yet which usually sets in around day 16.  Beautiful images of naked newborns laying down or in their families arms are an incredible beginning to documenting a person's life, and should not be missed.


2 to 3 months - This time is still considered newborn, but the babies can be harder to work with at this age as they tend to be very fussy at this age.  They will have better head control than in the first month, and they usually can smile at this point, but do not count on getting a smiling portrait at this age.  Most posing will involve the baby laying down on back or stomach, being propped up, and being held in arms. If you missed the newborn window of 5 to 10 days, you can still get great newborn photos at this age, it just take patience.  Oh! they also tend to be much plumper by this age than 5 to 10 days.

 

4 to 5 months - Most infants are quite chubby by this time, and are much better at smiling and making faces.  These babies are still not able to sit up, but they are more able to interact with people and toys. This is a perfect time for infant portraits of capture chubby arms and legs, and bare bottoms - and you may even be able to get them to smile on camera.

6 to 7 months - Around this age the infant is able to sit up, and there are many more options for photography posing. Outdoor sessions are now possible for six month old portraits, but remember that babies at this age love to put everything in their mouth, so choose the outdoor location carefully. This is a great age for portraits with pets, and siblings as the infant is usually not mobile yet - just able to sit up, laugh and smile!

8 to 10 months - Often by this age, the baby is crawling and the sessions get very active! Consider a white background session in studio for a clean, classic look - but be ready to bring toys to distract the baby to stay in the area of light and continually reset the baby to the right spot. For very active babies a better choice for professional baby photography may be at the home if these is plenty of natural light so that the baby can roam and the photographer can follow.

11 to 14 months - Pulling up, standing and then walking - these all are typical of these ages and should be documented as a major milestone in the infants development.  Now the baby is really able to move in their environment which would make it a great time for a location session, including other family members as well.

So given these ages for professional baby photography, which ones are the best?  As a photographer and a parent, I would recommend having the baby professionally photographed as a newborn (around 5 to 10  days old), then at 4  months (chubby baby bottoms), followed by 6 or 7 months (sitting), 9 months (crawling), then 12 to 13 months (standing).  If you can only do three - make sure to get newborn, 6 to 7 month portraits, and the One Year milestone. When purchasing prints, order professional archival prints that will last for generations, as these photos should be around for this babies great grand-babies.

This is the gift of professional photography.

About the Author
Anna Myers is a modern lifestyle  Portrait Photographer in San Francisco who specializes in artistic baby photography.

Newborn Black & White Portraits - Miles

Christina and Zach brought Miles in for his newborn photography session when he was about 20 days old.  We chose the black background in studio to match some of their favorite maternity portraits that we had done with Christina.  Big sister Hannah came to the session too. Here are some fun family pics from the session...

Yes I am a newborn charmer and can capture newborns smiling when the stars are all aligned!

 Love these with Miles and Mom!

Some nice individuals of Miles

And we even had some time while Miles was taking a break to do some fun quick shots of Hannah which we turned into this cool little photo panel...

 

One Year Old Portrait Session in the Park - Oh Boy!

One Year is a wonderful milestone to capture with a professional photography session.  I recommend that the baby should be walking or at least standing well. This of course means that some "one year" sessions happen around 14 months or so, and that is A-OK!  No worries if you missed the actual twelfth month - it was still captured as an age even if we are off by a couple of months.  I also recommend going on location with these curious, fast moving people!  Here is a session with one of my clients at Vasona Park. We make it playful, fun and shoot in all natural light - trying to capture their spirit and range of expressions at this age.  And with boys that usually means they will have sticks in their hands through out the session - which is fine with me!

   

Rainy Dayz Baby Sessions

Winter rainy days keeping you inside too much? Bring your baby or toddler into the studio to play for a morning session - available Monday and Wednesday mornings in February - and we will get some great shots at a great price. Winter Baby Session fee is $95 for 25 minutes - for babies and toddlers age 3 months to 2.5 years. Call or email the studio to set up your appointment!   

Happy Halloween

One of my recent character baby's - Miss Brooklyn...

Summer Favorites

Here are some recent favorites from this summer's sessions...

Group Hug
I Get it!
Big Sister In-Waiting
Princess Cowgirl
Nestled

Which is your favorite? Click here to vote for your favorite!