New collaborations: Flytographer and Earlybird Foundation

I am so very pleased to share two wonderful new organizations that I am a part of! The first is an innovative concept called Flytographer, founded just a few months ago by Nicole Smith. The concept: families, friends, couples and individuals on vacation nearly anywhere in the world can hire a professional photographer to document their trip. It's a perfect fit for my photojournalistic style, and I'm happy to save travelers from selfies and well-intended but unreliable strangers. I've already done two shots for Flytographer in Amsterdam, the first of which was with Sara and Josephine, two best friends traveling through Europe together.

The second is a non-profit called the Earlybird Foundation, a group of professional family photographers throughout the Netherlands who provide free photo shoots for families of premature babies. Although I am not a mom just yet, I understand how important it is to have pictures of your family members, and being able to provide the first professional photographs for families who are acutely aware of the value of those images is a privilege. I admire the importance, the sensitivity and honesty of the group. Not every pregnancy goes exactly according to plan, and the children and families in such a situation deserve to have some joy brought to them. I am proud and honored to be one of Earlybird's photographers.

Jeroen, Karin & Alexander!

There is a major baby boom happening here in the Netherlands! Well, at least in my social group, which is wonderful first and foremost because more wonderful kids are entering the world, but also because I get to be the one taking all their pictures. I always feel lucky and flattered when my friends hire me to be their photographer, and this shoot was especially, well, special - I was Jeroen and Karin's wedding photographer three years ago (along with my fiancee Elger), and yesterday I got to take their first family photos with their adorable and already very loved son, Alexander. We all laughed so much throughout the shoot, and Alexander mostly slept through it, but it was so cool to see that this kid is guaranteed to have two of the coolest, nerdiest, sweetest and just all-around awesome parents possible.

DSC_8472editbwblog

diptych1

The beautiful, Japanese-inspired design on the left was created by the always lovely Anniek Olsder - Jeroen and Karin both love Japanese art, and wanted a design that reflected the summertime to use in their birth announcements for Alexander. To the right, some of the first congratulations cards from friends and family :) It got very strangely Disney very quickly.

DSC_8485editblog

DSC_8512editblog

DSC_8552editbwblog

DSC_8576editblog

DSC_8582editbwblog

DSC_8606editbwblog

DSC_8614editbwblog

I love how serene Karin is in this shot. It feels like a stolen moment, like I wasn't ever there. That's what it felt like for much of the shoot, as they just loved on their little guy and I just happened to be nearby taking photos.

DSC_8713editbwblog

And then it was playtime with hats and puppets. Alexander already rocks so hard. I can easily imagine that this will be a wonderful microcosm of his coming childhood and life with these two.

DSC_8715editbwblog

The Little Prince

DSC_8748editbwblog

DSC_8820editblog

DSC_8804editbwblog

Miranda, Richard and Femke!

Femke is here! My buddy Miranda and her husband Richard's little girl has arrived and everyone is happy at home with stuffed giraffes and hundreds of geboorte kaartjes. I did Miranda's maternity shoot a few months ago, and Femke is nearly a month old already! We had a nice home shoot on a sunny Saturday with Miranda's parents, who are visiting from South Africa, and Femke pretty much slept through it - even when we put her on top of the standing piano that Miranda's family had shipped all the way from Africa to now live in the Netherlands! Miranda and Richard are both so natural and sweet with their little girl, and getting to hang out with Miranda is always one of my favorite activities :)

femke006

femke012

femke014bw

femke015

femke017

femke032bw

femke034bw

femke036bw

femke038bw

femke043bw

femke047

femke051bw

femke054bw

femke056

femke058bw

femke060

femke064

femke066

femke074

Bryn, Cees and Tobin in Groningen

If Tobin doesn't turn out to be a sweet, geeky, hilarious guy, I would lose faith in the science of genetics. His mom and dad, Bryn and Cees, are two friends of mine, and their son was fittingly born into laughter: his dad was performing in the English-language improv group, Stranger Things Have Happened, monthly show back in October, and his mom was laughing so hard at their nonsense and hilarity that she actually went into labor early! I was very happy to finally get to spend a few hours with this new little family in their house with wonderful window light and, naturally, lots of laughs.

Rebecca, Alain and Ilya - now featuring Merlyn!

On a misty October afternoon, long, long ago - all the way back in 2012 - I spent a fun afternoon with my good friends Rebecca and Alain, along with their son (Ilya, otherwise known as Alain's first clone) in Heusden. In addition to it just being a family shoot, they also wanted a special maternity shoot before the arrival of their second son, Merlyn. Well, in January - while I was in Nepal - he arrived! Last week I headed back to the Dutch south to do a follow up featuring the family's newest addition!

The boys have matching dragon outfits!

My super talented friend, Anniek Olsder, used one of the photos from the maternity shoot in October in her Juno-inspired design for Merlyn's birth announcements:

Newborn portraits with Eleanor in Den Haag, The Hague

This is Eleanor, she is tiny, and she is very patient. Her aunt, my friend Irene through Stichting Didi, asked me to take photos of her newborn niece in Den Haag, and I was happy to oblige! Eleanor's mom, Christy, is American, and her dad, Matthieu, is Dutch, and these two actually met in the exact same way as my fiancee and I - she studied abroad, fell in love, and got her Dutch significant other much more into American college sports. They are a great family, and it was a fun time hanging out with them in their beautiful apartment in the center of Den Haag, along with their four pet rabbits. One of the bunnies makes a cameo in the shoot, and almost every toy Eleanor has is also a bunny of some kind, so it wound up being a bit of a theme.

Newborn portraits of Anna in Groningen

And so, a month after doing a maternity shoot with her mom and dad, I got to spend the afternoon taking photos of Anna. She is already such a laid-back and pleasant personality, much like her mom. I channeled a little Anne Geddes (hopefully in a good way), since there's is simply no way around the preciousness of a newborn, and I'm looking forward to getting to see her grow up!

Michelle's mom has been staying with the family since shortly after Anna was born, so we wanted to get a multigenerational photo while she is here visiting from America.

When Dutch families have a child, it's traditional to put up the congratulations cards up in the house on display, so I figured we may as well have a photo of the reason for all the cards. Congratulations, my friends!