I am still a beginner. I have done about 5 newborn sessions (most were a month old or older) and were children of family or friends or friends of friends. Last week I had my first baby session with a person with whom I hadn't known beforehand.
As always, I feel like there is so much I don't know and I started doing research. I found that I love the style of Kelly Brown, and of course, I aspire to the creativity of Anne Geddes, but that's down the road a ways. As a result, I knew I had to have a "bean bag poser" . They are available on Amazon, but it would not have arrived in time for our scheduled session. With the help of a friendly suggestion from a photographer on one of the Facebook groups I am in, I set out to make my own. Getting the vinyl from the fabric store was easy, but I couldn't find the "beans" anywhere. I ended up buying two bean bag chairs and just transferring the beans. Dale helped with that project by making this huge funnel. The beans were everywhere because they stick to everything. Two days after the session, I walked into K Mart, the only store I didn't go into, and there was a huge bag of beans. It's just my luck.
I also didn't have much in the way of backdrops, wraps or props. I also searched high and low for throw blankets. They are the perfect size for throwing over the bean bag poser. You can also just clip them to your backdrop stand if you need to raise up the back. This is where I realized that my backdrop stand must have two sections to work. The bean bag is just wide enough for one so two was extra long. I managed, but will probably use a dowel rod to make a pole just the right size for my bean bag. I finally found some textured, furry throws at Roses for $8.00.
The beautiful wraps that Kelly Brown uses cost about 6-12 dollars depending upon size. They are just dyed cheese cloths, or similar stretchy material. I thought maybe a scarf would work, but you know, the scarves that are in style now are the "endless" ones with no ends, and a bunch of them are bedecked in jewelry. I had little success with this. I've begun my first attempt at crocheting one, but it's not going so well and will cost more than if I just buy them. So, I think I'll just buy some for next time.
Anyway, my baby adventure was successful, but not exactly where I wanted to be. Below are my best shots from all my baby sessions so far. The most recent is the little baby on the camouflage.
