As the dim morning light streamed through the windows of my studio in Gulfport, Mississippi on a rainy day, I welcomed a beautiful family eager to capture the essence of their newest chapter. With a tender blend of excitement and anticipation, we embarked on a journey to freeze these precious moments in time. Amidst the laughter and tender embraces, the toddler, brimming with boundless energy and curiosity, added a delightful playfulness to our time together, reminding us of the joy found in the simple moments of family life.

THE STUDIO SETTING

When we photographed big brother, Brady’s, newborn session in 2021, we chose to document welcoming him to world in the setting of their home capturing all of the details of his nursery. It was the perfect session as a family of 3. Now that they are a family of 4 and Brady is inquisitively taking in the world as a big brother, we chose the document Mac’s newborn session at the studio where they could come and relax without the worry of tidying their home. The Little Sunshine studio has been setup as a lifestyle approach with busy families in mind, making it feel like home away from home. With its expansive, sunlit shooting space and inviting ambiance, it provided the ideal setting for Brady to roam freely as my “assisitant” (peep his camera in tow) for the day as we froze moments of them enjoying being a family with two sweet boys.

CAPTURING MAC AS A NEWBORN

Macauley, a.k.a. Mac, is lovingly named after his great-grandfather, and he seemed super proud of this honor as he gave me all the newborn, sleepy smiles. He truly shined as I documented his solo portion of the session while momma was pampered with hair and makeup. We made sure we incorporated Mac’s heirloom, “welcome home” outfit, and he looked like an absolute angel with the sweet lace details and bonnet that framed his perfect face. Just as we wrapped up this part of our session, we welcomed the rest of thew crew in to part two of our session.

We styled everyone around mom’s favorite dress from the studio wardrobe collection that had the perfect amount of feminine, refined, southern charm that matches her personality so well. We kept the color palette similar in tone to what we chose for Brady’s newborn and one year sessions with their growing gallery wall of frames in mind. This will give it a purposeful, cohesive look in their home.

Brady stole the show as we let him take the lead on joining in the family portraits. Easing into a new role in the family can be really hard on a little person, so we give lots of room for grace and patience with that during our sessions. He joined in with some peek a boos, airplanes moves, and sneak cuddles from momma. Grandma being there with us was the icing on the cake. Genuine happy moments are always our goal, and we interact with that in mind. I hope you enjoy these portraits from our time together as much I did photographing them.