I find that since I have a daughter of my own (3 months) I’ve been given a whole new perspective and comfort level in photographing newborns/infants/toddlers. I didn’t even realize until about half way into the photo shoot with Laila (1 yr.) that I was getting her to interact with the camera in ways that I probably wouldn’t have been able to before the birth of my daughter.

Laila’s parents, Amber and Jeremy, had a lot of great ideas for props. We had a chair, wagon, & a half dozen balloons  making Laila enjoy her time in front of the camera. It should be interesting to see what we come up with for her photo shoots in the years to come.

The title of the post is “The Kuznetsky Family” but really it should be titled “Cooper Kuznetsky & Family.” He stole the show, as we all predicted he would. Literally within the first 2 minutes of the photo shoot we were able to capture some of the best images. I say “we” because it was a group effort. In fact, I had my wonderful wife Jackie help me out on this one. She was working behind the scenes as the baby whisperer. Usually shoots take a natural arch of starting slow and THEN picking up speed; not this one. It almost caught me off guard. I guess Cooper was ready for me. For the family photos we just walked around the neighborhood, lucky they live in Agoura Hills, CA and finding great trees, and green grass wasn’t really difficult. Speaking of grass, Cooper was enamored with it. All in all I think we captured some great images and to top it off Matt and Casey (The Parents) cooked an incredible lasagna dinner followed by brownie sundaes. How can you beat that?

Dean just turned 1 and to document the occasion his mother Valerie wanted to get some photos taken. We headed to a local park in Whittier and found some great spots. In fact, I’m not sure if Dean even realized he was getting his photo taken because he was busy exploring. One of my favorite pictures from the day happened when we decided to do an outfit change. Valerie also decided to style his hair at that moment which quickly turned into Dean styling his own hair. After we left the park we ended up going back to their home where we decided to get a few more shots. Some of those shots ended up being favorites as well.

Ethan was 3 weeks when I had the chance to photograph him with his wonderful parents. For the most part he was quite content with having his picture taken. What really struck me about these images once I got them home and on to my computer was how moving they were. His father in uniform holding him was the kind of image that with one look instantly had an effect on me.

“Keiki Couture baby and children’s boutique features handmade clothing and accessories for your little ones.” This company was started by Brittany Kuroswki which is on the web at www.keikicoutureonline.com . Considering we had 3 babies and 4 hours I think we did a pretty good job. Also I would like to thank the Moms who were awesome in helping Brittany and Me out. Couldn’t have done it without them. One thing I love about photographing youngsters like these are those unpredictable moments of laughter and movement. As a photographer you really have be ready for anything, and able to improvise on the spot.