Melissa Shelby Photography » portrait

Newborn Portraits

Mel — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:36:46 +0000

One of the great opportunities of being down south, is the chance to attend all the workshops, seminars and photography events that I can muster in one year. The first progam I attended was Sandy Puc’s “Bellies and Babies” Tour. Sandy is an extraordinary photographer who has been photographing children for what sounds like at least two decades. Her work is beautiful and dreamy and she provided those of us in the audience a glimpse into her techniques and workflow.

One of the areas she really worked into a science is the art of photographing a newborn. Getting great photographs of the baby or the baby with her mother can actually be fostered through a quick run of a handfull of poses.

In the past I would just sit and watch to see what would happen or I tended to wait until babies were about 3 months old. After seeing Sandy at work and incorporating her poses and techniques, I felt much more prepared for the unknowns of the newborn! For the first attempt with my new found arsenal, I enlisted the help of a local mom and her little girl, Kallyn, to do some modeling for me. Thank you for your patience and allowing me the opportunity to photograph your beautiful baby girl!

Sid trashes the hay

Mel — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:23:52 +0000

I desperately wanted to try to recreate the photos of Solomon and Sam the dog that I had taken a month earlier. I took a light to the barn to hopefully capture the action without blur this time. Sam decided he was way too lethargic to play that game so nothing went as planned. Instead, Sid became bored and decided to put on a show. He created his own entertainment by tossing hay around. As you can see, he was quite please with himself. His expressions constantly amaze me!

Father’s Day

Mel — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:17:20 +0000

I took this photo the night before Dave left for Afghanistan. We were visiting the relatives in Idaho half-way on our journey to Alabama. Doug’s living room turned out to be a great backdrop.

I almost forgot about these photos because it was several weeks before I had computer access again. They were never uploaded. Happy Father’s day to Dave, Doug, Cliff and to my dad, Mark, who is not pictured!

I showed this photo to Solomon and said, “Look at this!” He promptly said, “Who are they?” (Who are they!)

“You tell me.”

“Is that Uncle Doug?”

“No, but the other one is”

“Awwwww, that’s my dad!

Big grin.