One of my favorite things about this family is how they just live – and their living moments make for such great snapshots. I met them two years ago when I shot Lila’s newborn session and they invited me back into their home recently to capture Rosa and Marie’s twin lifestyle newborn photos. I can obviously pick out the major differences between the two sessions – going from a toddler-only household to a toddler plus a baby is WAY different from their current situation, which is having a preschooler, a toddler and now twin girls…it’s a lot. Alicia mentioned that one twin sleeps great overnight while the other twin likes to party so she’s getting a lot less sleep than she enjoyed with just one newborn in the house two years ago. Somehow, despite the exhaustion and being pulled in all directions by the needs of now four little girls, this family still manages to photograph like everyone got eight hours of sleep and no one ever screams and cries (not the kids either 😉🤣).
But back to how they are content to just live when I’m over there. When I arrived, both babies were mentioning that it was time to eat. That wasn’t necessarily Alicia’s plan for how the beginning of the session was going to go but I love how they just rolled with it. No fanfare, just mom setting up to breastfeed times two while dad settled down on the floor to read to the two older girls. I love the comfort and relaxation that they exuded…no stress because things weren’t going the way they had imagined, just acceptance that this was how it was going to go. This type of client, especially at twin lifestyle newborn photos, is so completely ideal.
The rest of the session unrolled the same way. It’s so much easier, as a photographer, to have clients that roll with the punches. Two year old not having it? No big, just I-G-N-O-R-E and move on and eventually she’ll realize everyone’s proceeding normally without her and she’ll rejoin. Babies fussing? It’s cool, that’s what they do! Twin lifestyle newborn photos can definitely be hectic (every twin session I’ve ever done has required three pairs of adult hands to make things run smoothly) and this session definitely saw me holding a twin in one arm while simultaneously photographing dad with the other twin while mom was changing clothes.
Alicia gave me the best compliment right before I left. I commented about what a great team she and Jake are and how well they seem to be managing. She laughed and told me that it was definitely smoke and mirrors but that deciding to hire me for the second time was a no-brainer. She said, “I feel like I know you and I was totally comfortable having you come into the chaos – I knew you would document it exactly how I wanted.” She couldn’t have said nicer words in that moment.
Liz Viernes Photography is based near Ashton, Maryland, and specializes in maternity, fresh 48, posed and lifestyle newborns and first year milestone portraits.
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