Picture Perfect

Something happens when a baby is born (well...of course... a lot happens... but one thing in particular that I feel like blogging about), seemingly normal people become photo obsessed. And so, I too must admit, "Hi, I'm Mommish, and I am a photoholic." My phone, computer, family room, facebook profile and dear family and friends' e-mails have been littered with photos of the Babish ("look he's walking," "look he's eating," "look, he can stare"). And of course it's only now that I'm realizing we'll have no wall/disk/album space left for #2 or #3 should they ever be. But yet they change so quickly during the first year that I do think it's pretty important to document these changes every few months or so... and while I'm semi- obsessed with photos, I know that some jobs are better left to the professionals.

But for those of you who know me, you know I also go by the name fru-gal, so I love to find a way to save the dough. And I wanted nice professional shots at least every few months of the first year of life. So, my plan was to do cheesy cheapy shots from a mall-front store at least a couple times during the year (we chose month four and month seven) and then once a year SPLURGE on the BEST professional I could find [read: do some google searching but realize there was no one out there better than the recommendation of my friend S, who must get some credit.]

For the mall-front shots I chose Portrait Innovations, which is a national chain. They offer a $9.95 special - where literally you pay only $9.95 and get tons of copies of one shot. For around $15 bucks more, you can also get plenty of copies of a second shot too. Being the type of place where props and wall drops are sort of pushed upon you, if you go in strong, you can end up with some simple pictures. We asked for a white background and had them shoot our family playing with the baby. You can never go wrong with naked shots too. And of course, anything can be turned into black and white. But yes, much to my disbelief, I do have some shots of my son, with a bucket of apples behind fake fall foliage that I think are just to die for....

For our once a year splurge, we chose photographer Audrey Woulard. Literally my jaw drops when I look at how she captured my son's bright blue eyes. Her shots are perfect compositions of light and color. Audrey does the Pottery Barn Kids catalogs and other commercial shots too. Now, she is hard to schedule (she books 6 to 8 weeks out on average) and she does not come cheap, but when we saw the pictures we knew that it was worth it. She shoots only in natural light which makes such a difference. She'll work on location, or, like us, you can chose to have her take photos in her loft in downtown Chicago. The loft is filled with modern furniture and toys and captures light beautifully. You can check out her out at www.alwphotography.com, or read her blog at www.audreywoulardblog.com. If you are exploring on her blog, check out Small Ones and you'll see some cute pics of the Babish (or should he now be the Toddlish?).

Say cheese! (or chsss if you are the Babish)