Baby Calvin | Farmdale, OH

I received a phone call from a woman who lives in my little town.

Sheryl left me a voicemail sharing that her son had just had a baby and they hadn’t lined up newborn photos to be taken. She was hoping I’d be available and curious about how my packages worked. On my call back to her we chatted about how proud she was to be a grandmother to a brand new grandson, how she just loves pictures and working with all kinds of photographers, a few other photo needs that she had and how google brought us together when we live just a few streets apart.

Sheryl ended up booking and put me in contact with her daughter-in-law [and Calvin’s beautiful mother] to finalize details just days before their session. The process happened quickly since baby was already born and I got Calvin into my studio at just 13 days new!

I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but his session went so smooth! He slept the entire time. He stirred a little when I got him into one pose that he didn’t like [kid can yell], and he ate about a half ounce without ever waking. He also had the largest baby blowout I’ve ever had in my studio… still asleep! ;)

Erich and Krista live on and run a family farm in the same town as me and were such cool down to earth parents. Erich literally stole a kiss from Calvin any time that baby was near him, it was so sweet! They ooh-ed and ahh-ed all of baby Calvin’s faces, noises and poses during the session and snapped tons of behind the scenes shots of their little guy. It’s always humbling to work with first time parents who are constantly in awe of their new baby.

I normally start with family photos, but since planning happened so fast, I wasn’t clear on if this family was going to want family photos or not. I did know that Calvin’s nursery was animal themed with a color scheme of black, gold and ivory. We started of our shoot with turning their babe into a little lion cub and adding a few safari touches.

Clavin’s parents looked so dapper, I knew they were getting a fam shot the minute I saw them. After family shots, Krista mentioned she loved my flokatis and she also couldn’t resist seeing Calvin dressed as a fuzzy little bear. Following his fur and bear set up, I snapped his cute little detail shots, and, then, I spent a little more time on hunter green, it was so simple and looked so great with his skin tone! We finished the session with a personal fave: mustard yellow. I think I squealed a little when Krista picked it. Calvin also gave me lots of great facial expressions to wrap up his session [and probably let me know he was over it]. Haha!

It’s always an honor to do this job of mine; I get to work with brand new and/or growing families, snuggle tiny humans, meet such sweet parents and older siblings of all kinds, but Calvin was just super special. From the moment I spoke with Sheryl, to welcoming Erich, Krista and Calvin into my home and studio, listening to their extra special story and witnessing them purely enjoy their baby; I was reminded of just how lucky I am to do this- and why I do it.

A giant congrats to the Bonar Family on their little blessing!