I photographed 18 babies in one day last week. 18 - count em - 18, and each baby in 2-3 different outfits for a how-to book on onesies - that all time favorite cozy ware of babies. With the help of my amazingly patient and exuberant assistant, Melissa, and hard working client, Dana Irwin, we managed to shoot for 10 hours straight with only a few short breaks to catch our breath. I conjured up every trick in my repertoire - cajoling, key shaking, loud applause, bribes, goldfish, dancing and laughter. The rule of the day was "whatever works to get that baby to smile and stay on the white paper".
I would say that I was fresh and feeling good until about 4:30 - at that point I hit the inevitable wall, when our enthusiastic banter with the babies turned to shrill pleas of "SMILE!!!" and the charm was getting harder to find. Even the bagies that showed up as late as 5:30, however, were of course - CUTE.
Yes, it was exhausting, but I have to say (now that it's over) it was a lot of fun. Almost, but not quite, enough to think that having another baby could be great. Below are a few of my favorites.
