the asnips: experimental photography

There were a million shots I wanted to get of Ryder for his "first birthday" pics. Pinterest had me enthralled with all the props, backdrops and outfits. But time marched on and what were supposed to be 12 month photos, quickly approached 14 months. I knew I just had to decide on something and do it! And with a 3yr old to occupy in the meantime and a house to pack...did I mention we are moving next week??...I'll tell more later. Needless to say, simple was what I needed.

So what I ended up doing was nothing like I had imagined. But I LOVE the way they turned out.

Ryder is a busy busy boy. I love that I was able to capture that in these photos. Again, not the professional, smiling, still shots I had imagined. But that's not Ryder. I also love how he just started playing with the wooden letters, stacking them, throwing them...again, so Ryder.

Oh, and lets not ignore that bruise on his forehead and the faded one on his cheek. I promise I don't beat him! He's rough. I usually don't even know which one of the dozen falls in the day caused the marks, since he rarely cries due to pain.

Location is always the hardest aspect of photography for me. I have a good camera, but not a great one. The lighting in my house is either too dark or too harsh, but unless its completely overcast outside, my boys' sensitive eyes (unfortunately passed on by his mama) will be squinted in every pic.

so where did I do these??

his bedroom!

I brought all the lamps I had into the room. pulled the blinds. set up the big white blanket and added the props. OH, and trying to make sure there was no bad reflection in the mirror was a little tricky!

BUT for those of you experimenting with photography, you may want to give this idea a shot.

I really love the way the black and white look, but I just had to show you one in color :) His skin is so beautiful, and I just love that blond hair (us DeGuzzies don't have much experience with blonde's! ha) and lets pay some special attention to that precious outfit given to him by his Grandmomma :) Thank you!

After about 20 minutes of it, he had enough!

So in an effort to get another pose in, I just stripped him and added some baseballs a little later:)

just to clarify, he doesn't have a mullet...not sure why it looks like that in this pic! lol.

He was such a trooper! He put up with the whole thing almost 45 minutes!! But once again, there was a meltdown. But his faces were just so darn cute, I kept snapping :)