Samuel!

It's been a couple of years since I got to do a newborn shoot for Jonah, the cutest tiny old man I've had the pleasure of photographing so far. Now, he's a big brother - and a big boy in his own right! His little brother Samuel entered the world with a bang on New Year's Eve accompanied by hours of fireworks, and I enjoyed getting to spend a couple of quiet hours with this sweet, newly bigger family. These at home shoots are my very favourite kind of photo session: relaxed and real. And Judith and Ton, the parents of these two sweet guys, have such a lovely home full of lovely light which was wonderful for another newborn shoot. I loved every moment of this shoot, but I think my favorite shot is Jonah stopping his ears as Samuel let us know in no uncertain terms that he was quite done with being a model for one day. Judith tucked him into a wrap soon thereafter and all was well with the world. Thanks again for having me, guys!

 

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Little Prince

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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!