Otto!

This little guy is my nephew, Otto. (My one and only nephew). I think he's just fabulous and fun to photograph! He came to visit me to do his 6-month-old portraits.

The best part about having a baby related to me is that I can test out photo ideas that I would have a hard time talking a client into without an example to show them. For instance, this background behind Otto is a bed that a client gave me (!!!) and that I don't get to use for shoots because it's at my house and it doesn't travel, however I really love the look of it so it was fun to get to shoot with it.



I also like to shoot babies in the buff, as I feel like many of the attributes that are quintessentially "baby" are hidden by clothing. Things like dimpled thighs, wrinkles around ankles and wrists, moobs...you know, the things you'll miss as soon as they become a toddler.

Look, it's an Otto-Man on an ottoman! AHAHAHAHA. I know. I am so punny.

He had 3 teeth when we did these. (Now he has 4, and is working on more). He's 20lbs and 29 inches tall and desperately wants to be a grown-up.







Look how crazily flexible he is!

Fart noises are hilarious ya'll.


We decided to shoot a couple Valentine's day themed images (we shot these images a month ago) and I just love his quizzical look here.






A lot of the images I do with Otto involve my sister Lydia, as her transition into a mother has been a lovely thing to watch and I want the process documented. The next 60 or so images are Lydia and Otto hanging out in my bedroom. I know they're more of the same type of images and I generally would only post a few on my blog, but I loved the way these turned out and I'm glad we got this moment captured for her. It's one of the reasons I always try to get my clients to be in images with their children as I feel they're very important to have (and for your children to have later). No one ever looks back and regrets having too many photographs with their children.

He gives kisses now. How cute is that? (This image is Lydia's favorite)





This is my favorite. I think it feels very Rosie the Riveter plus baby. Also, that pose makes him look chubbier and I love me some baby chub!

This is how we were getting him to smile.

...and a little bit of this

This is a series were doing for his first year. The first image is at 8 days, the second is at 2.5 months and the last at 6 months.