I pulled up to the Lenahan's house a few minutes before 9:30 on a rainy, Thursday April morning. A few miles outside of Baltimore City and Towson, you drift into horse country without even knowing it.
After passing townhouses, shopping centers and exits for the highway, you enter into another version of Baltimore. I passed horse fields and herds of sheep out in Phoenix MD to get to this family and their first child: a baby boy named William.
I entered the kitchen and was greeted happily by their first baby, a big yellow lab with a smushy, expressive face named Winnie.
The kitchen smelled like blueberry muffins and clean sheets. I'm sure the house has been hectic that morning with crying and bottle fetching but in that moment, the moment I first saw little William cradled in his mom's arms, all was peaceful. Baby William looked content, alert and curious with zero complaints. At least for the moment ;)
I know this little guy and his mom and dad have been through a lot. He needed to go to the hospital for a little surgery a few days after coming home from the hospital. I always need to know (or like to know) that info before showing up at anyone's home for a shoot.
Simply knowing how relieved (but tentatively, still guarded) this family is to have their baby William back home means everything for the shoot. It adds a layer of significance to every shot.
I gave them space to cuddle him and tend to his crying, his damp diapers, and Winnie licking this new guy's feet like they were little lollipops.
One of my favorites is mama looking through the doorway into the nursery where her husband is rocking the baby in a chair. I didn't need to show what was happening in the room.
You can tell she's looking at her baby taking it all in, approving and calm....At this moment everything felt right.
These are just a few of my faves from this shoot. More to come from this shoot and other newborn and family shoots.