And my favorite moment of the shoot happens.  Without being asked or prompted, big brother draws close to comfort his baby brother.  Huddy’s gesture of comfort is so subtle, so genuine, and so magical.  It is all together powerful that I have to remember to shoot.

I can’t get over the utter peace that is radiating on the face of baby brother.  It leaves me speechless.  I’m so thankful that all my initial “grand ideas” were put aside when I started this shoot.  None of those ideas could compare to the beautiful story of these three brothers in their beginning years.

Photographing baby twins is not something I do everyday.  Before this shoot, I spent a chunk of time researching all types of different ideas we could do for the shoot.  I wanted this shoot to be AMAZING because of how precious this stage of life is and especially how much this family means to me.  But in all my “building up and preparing”, I started to lose sight of the most powerful dynamic existing in a photo shoot.  The subjects themselves.

Even though these subjects are between six weeks and two years, they still have stories to share.  They have relational dynamics that have been building for weeks.  They have a complex beauty already existing between the three of them.  If I went in with all my prepared ideas and didn’t allow the pause to happen, I may have missed their stories.  I may have captured “my stories” that I projected on to them.  I’m so glad the toddler was strong willed with keeping his binkie.  He forced me to move outside of my ideas and find something new.  He reminded me how powerful the pause is.  He gave me the opportunity to find him.  I’m in tears because this is the honor that photography gives me–the honor of being invited into the heart of a toddler and his new baby brothers.

xoxo,

m

Photo-Recipe for photographing newborn twins!  Five Steps to Cooking Up Your Own Story

In keeping with the photo-recipe format that I use in Your Baby in Pictures, let’s break these photos down!

When: Morning or early afternoon is almost always best when working with small children.  Since I flew in that morning, we waited for the afternoon sun to shoot.

Prep: Four white blankets.  We covered the dining table with one, and then we wrapped the three boys with the others.  Try to find blankets that are patternless so nothing distracts from the facial expressions.

for P&S Users: Turn off your flash.  Set your camera in Portrait mode.  And, make sure you are also in Continuous Shooting mode to capture the split second change in emotions.

for DSLR Users: Aperture/f-stop was f/2.8.  Shutter Speed 1/160th of a second or 160.  ISO 400.

Compose: These photos tell the story of the three boys.  Shooting these with horizontal frames not only gives me more width but also accentuates the communication, verbal or non-verbal, that is being exchanged with all three boys.

Capture: Experiment with your focus.  If the baby in the middle is crying, focus on him.  If the big brother is doing something, focus on him.

For FORTY Photo-Recipes on Capturing Your Baby’s First Year from our best selling book “Your Baby in Pictures”, CLICK HERE!

If you are photographing newborn twins, post your pictures to my Facebook page for some feedback!