I'm actually not a huge fan of studio newborn photo shoots - babies wrapped in gauze and put into baskets of flowers or covered in pearls really aren't my thing. It's not that I don't think the photos are super cute - they are - it just seems kind of over done. Plus, newborn photographers prefer babies around a week old, if not younger, and since both my girls were in the hospital until Day 5, I just couldn't fathom being organized enough to get booked into a studio. Enter Pink Pepper Photography...I'll call them PPP for short.
At the private hospitals in UAE, they offer free passport photos to infants - which is brilliant because most babies born at private hospitals are children of expats and will need a passport right away, AND PPP gets the parents' phone numbers. They also make sure to include a coupon for a free one-hour photo shoot, plus 1 free digital photo from the shoot. I didn't end up getting a passport photo from them because Baby H wasn't being cooperative, but I vaguely recall giving the hospital photographer my phone number, so of course they called me a few days after we got home from the hospital. The gal on the phone was really friendly and made it super easy to book the session - so I figured, why not? It's free, so there's nothing to lose.
Now, I know that there's nothing really free. I actually hate this model - where the photo session is free and you pay per image. I usually work with photographers where I pay for their time for a session, and the I get a full gallery of images. I'm also loyal to photographers that I like - for example, when I lived in Abu Dhabi, Lacey did all of my professional photographs, and in Dubai, most of my photo sessions are with Jo - because I love their work.
But.
For all the reasons I listed above, plus, I didn't want to drag G and L through another family photo shoot, I took Baby H to her portrait session with PPP. The photographer (I can't remember her name) was really sweet and was a pro with Baby H. I was impressed with her juggling of her camera, Baby H, and Baby H's pacifier to get some pretty great shots in between H's fussing. Obviously, since the business model is pay-per-image, they do not allow cell phones or external cameras in the studio, so I couldn't take a picture of the photographer at work. You'll just have to trust me that she was pretty great at working with my baby!
Once the shoot is over, you have to go back to the studio to view the photos - again, no online gallery to protect the business model. I did my homework ahead of time and prepared myself knowing the budget I wanted to spend, what the current promotions were, and exactly how many images I intended to go home with. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't, I would have ended up spending way too much money for images that I didn't love! And sure enough, the coordinator sat me in a really comfy room and play sappy music while she scrolled through my adorable baby's photographs - 56 total. Since I had a target number of images, I put my "work" hat on to get down to 21 images, and I'm proud to say I was 100% successful at not spending any more than my budget!
So - here they are! Well, 16 of the 21. I excluded one series because they will be used in Baby H's birth announcement. If you'd like to receive a birth announcement, and you're not currently on the Christmas Card mailing list, please update your address in our address book through Postable.
And yes - I get the irony that the very first series is Baby H sitting in a basket of flowers.
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