Joshua's J.C. Penney's Portraits

Even though I just orchestrated my own "special delivery" themed photo shoot here at our house, I still wanted some studio photographs of baby Joshua while he was still a tiny baby. I also wanted the opportunity to be in a few photos with him, so I made an appointment at our favorite JC Pennies Portrait Studios yesterday.

I love that I already have access to small sized preview images and I love, love, love how economical these photos are! You used to need a coupon, but now all their basic, unedited photos are just $4 a sheet! We have always had good results, but I usually put some thought and effort into what we wear and what props to bring.

I always start with a search for poses, themes, and color schemes. For this session I searched the internet for "newborn photography" and "newborn pictures" (examples above). I saved the images I liked to show to the photographer. The newborn wearing a paper hat that I saw on multiple websites was one of my favorites.

If you want to do something similar, here are directions for making a newspaper hat. (directions originally found here from the book This Book Belongs to Aye Aye.)

I wanted a to do a little more with printed paper, so I also made some paper pinwheels and paper pennants in similarly monochromatic neutral colors. I love that now it appears that Joshua has had a little party to explain the hat!

I also brought in several blankets and pieces of fabric that had good texture and colors for the look that I wanted. A higher priced photographer shod have these items for you, but if you ate going the more economical route you may want to bring extra options. Think outside the box! The nubby textured fabric in many of these pictures is one of my sweaters!

I remembered from Lydia's one month portraits that my hands may end up in a few photos, so I did an at home gel manicure that morning.

I was surprised that they encouraged me to strip him completely for these pictures, but since it was my fabric inside their basket, it didn't matter as much if he peed (which he did).

They did have a rule against showing full nudity. Baby bottoms were OK, but we had to strategically place the fabric for this pose.

And that's the story behind Joshua's first JC Pennies portraits!