A couple weeks ago I made the journey to Oceanside, California to attend a workshop hosted by two of my favorite photographers, Carrie Sandoval and Brittany Woodall of Baby as Art:

Baby as Art

Following Carrie’s newborn work was actually what started me out wanting to be a newborn photographer (well, that and I am madly in love with babies and mamas). Even though for the past three years I have felt very confident in my work as a newborn photographer, I still felt like there was something I was missing. Something I needed to learn. Spending two full days with them (as well as 6 babies and families) was an eye opening learning experience. I brought back so much knowledge that it has taken me two weeks just to write this post about it.

Here are the two in action….I was so honored that on the first day Carrie asked me personally what I was looking for out of the workshop. I spoke with her about some things I was hoping to learn…the next day she comes up to me and says that we will spend some time working on just that! The second photo is both Carrie and Britt demonstrating something I requested help with They rock!

And here are some of the many images I was able to take at the workshop. I am so thrilled that I finally have a color processing technique down that I absolutely LOVE. Which means that now I will be offering both color AND black and white for sessions.

and I, of course, am still absolutely in love with black and white as well
















Also I would like to mention that it has come to my attention recently that some newborn photographers are very rough with the babies they are graced with to photograph. Please know that these babies were treated with the utmost love and respect (as are all the babies I photograph). Attention is always paid to their comfort and safety at all times. Babies should never cry at newborn sessions (poop and pee, yes, cry, no). Please make sure that whomever you hire to photograph your wee one is knowledgeable in handling your precious little ones.



peace, love, and many more newborn baby images to come ♥anya

I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet love on Tuesday. I will have to admit that I was VERY impressed by his hair! And his sweet little cheeks … and the fuzzy fur on his face … and his cute button nose … you get the picture …

peace, much love, and baby snuggles ♥anya

So I always have high hopes for the wonderful images I am going to capture of siblings with their mama’s burgeoning belly. Suffice to say, those images in my head never end up revealing themselves to my camera. What does end up happening, I have discovered (hence the growing in my title), is that the images that do end up appearing are so utterly perfect in their own right. This was proven to me in the session that follows. I photographed this little man when he was a teeny tiny 6 days old almost two years ago. He was such a sweet little tiny cherub. When we started this particular session I had in mind some of the images I wanted to create. What ended up happening seemed like utter chaos. I left thinking that I was not able to capture any images of him with his sweet sister before her birth. What I ended up discovering was that the images I captured were a perfect documentation of little Ethan and who he is at this age. Not my own idea of who he is. Who he truly is.

I will start with his beautiful mama…

and now the big brother … I think my fave is the last image…the one where he is getting his candy bribe for hanging out with us

peace, much love, and many many belly hugs ♥ anya