PREPARING YOUR NEWBORN FOR THE FIRST YEAR
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| 1st Birthday Tarpoulin (Collage of pictures from the photoshoot |
Celebrating first birthdays is
extra special. Parents are usually thankful that their children reached the one
year stage and that is why most people have a very big celebration. A friend of
mine has a new born baby last 2010 and as soon as the child was born, she was thinking
of ways to capture every moment that her child was growing up. During this
time, my friends and I were just starting our photography hobby/career. All of
us decided to create a group meeting every month for a photo shoot session with
the baby.
Thus, this resulted in our
combined efforts to make a video slideshow especially for her first birthday.
ASK INPUT FROM THE
PARENTS
When making a slideshow, you must
first consider what the parents would like to see. Since the parents would love
to see how their child is progressing from her first month up to her 11th
month, I had decided to feature each photo session and official photographs
chosen for each month.
CONCEPTUALIZE
Second thing to consider is, you
must have original ideas for each month in order to have spontaneity. If all
you just do is self-portraits without any themes, it wouldn’t look interesting
at all. So as a demo example, I would be featuring the slideshow of Francesca
Larin that we had made.
1st Month Concept – Newborn Concept
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Hancel Darroca & Darwin Tenebro
In this concept, we had made the
baby sleep in her parent’s arms. The photographers emphasized the baby’s body
parts showing how small and delicate it is in contrast to her parents’. The
baby is naked and sleeping while the shooting was happening.
2nd Month Concept - Think Pink
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Hancel Darroca & Darwin Tenebro
This concept was taken out of the current materials that we had. The
baby had a pink fluffy blanket so we wrapped her there. We used a pink
stuffed teddy pillow as a cushion for the baby while she is sleeping
3rd Month Concept - Mother and Child
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Hancel Darroca ; VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo
This was just conceptualized during the shoot. We had this idea of
Madonna and child and we thought it would be nice to show how special
the relationship of mother and child. The photographers direct the
mother and what to do and there are some extra people to support the
baby if she needs adjustment in position with her mother.
4th Month Concept - Baby Lady Bug
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin;
VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo
It just so happen that the baby has a lady bug costume. We decided to
make use of it. We just showed spring time at its best. A chair was
propped near the wall and the baby would be holding on to the chair. An
assistant would be holding the baby at the back of the chair to make
sure that she doesn't fall.
5th Month Concept - Baby in the clouds and butterfly concept
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Darwin Tenebro, Vincent Ama, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin; VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo
The butterfly was just thought of in post processing. Since it was
really hard for us to take a photo of the baby looking directly at us,
the photographer (Japs) decided to make something with the existing
photos that he has (this photo can be seen in the slideshow below).
Since she was looking at her fingers it is like she is looking at a
butterfly hence, the theme. Using a lot of white soft styro, we decided
to make it like a cloud enveloping the baby. In the post processing you
would only see the white stuff there but it is not that obvious.
6th Month Concept -
Christmas Theme
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin; VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo
Obviously, this was done in
December. Christmas is a very popular theme for photo shoots. The photograph
was conceptualize during post processing (photographer - Japs ) putting a
sleigh in the background. Same as the chair concept, the baby is also supported
at the back of the chair while being shoot.
7th Month Concept –
Playing around with colours
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Darwin Tenebro, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin;
VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo
Different coloured cloths were
used to play around with the baby. We just let the baby have fun with the cloth
for it to look natural. Since it is hard to force babies to pose for you, you
have to make do with what poses she is making. In short, the photographers
adjust with the model and not the other way around.
8th Month Concept –
Valentines Day
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;
VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo
This shoot was supposed to be a
concept of the cupid holding her bow and arrow but unfortunately it was really
hard to do because the baby was not in the mood for shooting. (See the video
below showing the baby tantrum) Since the baby was fascinated with the red
balloons, we just put all the balloons in the carpeted floor and let the baby
play there and boy that is when we had our best shots taken from.
9th Month Concept - Autumn
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;
VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo
Here a blanket was put inside to
protect the baby from the rough surface of the basket. Since it is autumn,
perfect concept are falling leaves. We tried to look for dried autumn leaves
for props. Looking for the perfect tree was hard but we saw a bunch of nice
looking leaves in Port Melbourne and decided to get some for our photo-shoot.
10th Month Concept –
Mini Me
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez
The parents’ bought a cute teddy
for the baby and this is not all, the teddy has a matching clothes with the
baby which is really cute. This is Mini Me. Since the baby also enjoyed playing
around with the stuffed animal it wasn’t hard to shoot it because the baby was
smiling all the time.
11th Month Concept –
Winter
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez,
Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;
VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo
Winter time is the coldest time
of the month, so what do we need to do in order to show it in the photographs,
winter clothes, of course. We asked the parents for winter costumes and we put
a white backdrop to emphasize the cold (since snow is white having it as a
background would let them think it was snowing there, and having snowy
particles for the video is also nice for this particular concept)
IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO THIS EVERY MONTH HERE, I WOULD LIKE TO RECOMMEND SOME COSTUMES FOR YOUR SHOOT
PROPS FOR YOUR SHOOT
Once you had created a theme,
Props are important for each photo sessions. We tried to find a prop for each
theme that we have so as to make it livelier. For the newborn concept, most of the
time babies are naked for this session. The photographers emphasize how
delicate and small newborn babies are in the photograph.
Since we did not plan in advance
what concept we would have for each, we ask the parents what the child would be
wearing and from there, we conceptualize. This is to minimize expenditures. As
we all know, costumes can be a little expensive so if they have something nice
for the photo shoot then that is what we would gain ideas from.
PROPS & COSTIMES USED FOR THE
WHOLE SHOOTING
- Pillow – essential for a comfy
spot where the baby can rest if she needs to, it could also act as a support
for an uncomfortable pose
- Chair & Table – used as a
platform for the baby
- Mink Blankets – nice and soft for
the baby to play around it and be comfortable in
- Teddy Bear – nice prop to make
the baby happier
- Dress (Whatever nice is available
in her wardrobe) – available clothes in the wardrobe are nice to play around
with. But having new costumes are also ok. This would depend on the budget of
the parents with the photo shoot sessions
- Winter Jacket – used to convey
winter theme
- Basket, dried leaves – used as a
prop for autumn theme
- Balloons – nice background for
the picture plus, babies like balloons.
HERE ARE SOME PROPS THAT YOU CAN USE FOR THE SHOOT
WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF TANTRUMS
Now, if you are planning to take
of the shots while the baby is awake, then prepare yourself for the worse. A
kid would have tantrums most of the time. It is better to let the baby do what
she/he wants and let them enjoy the moment. If they don’t then you are in for a
big trouble. During our photo sessions the photographer and assistant
photographers have to be entertaining in order to make the baby smile and
happy. Since we are portraying a happy baby for each shoot then we have to make
her happy. Here are some behind the scene shots during our photo sessions.
MAKE YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD
Be open to new ideas and new
concepts as you shoot. This is very important because as you shoot, new
concepts would buzz in your brain. These ideas have to be turned into reality
in order to make it happen. Let your imagination run wild while shooting.
HAVE FUN
Last thing is, you should have
fun while doing it. Treat it as a new project that would give you an
opportunity to experiment and hang out with your friends.
In the slideshow, it would also
be nice to mix videos and photographs of the baby outside the photo sessions.
This would develop the character of the baby. I took out some pictures and
videos that the parents’ uploaded in their facebook pages.
FINAL PROJECT
Here is the slideshow that I had
made to show all the photo-shoots that we had.
