Three year old session

I've been photographing my best friend's son for a while now. He had just turned three, and we needed to do a new shoot. I really wanted to do a lifestyle shoot of him, just playing with his toys. Now I also watch my friend's son a few times a week, when she needs to head to work a bit early for a meeting. My husband suggested I do a shoot while she was working and surprise her the photos...genius!

Let me tell you a little about my friend's son.  In a word, he's active. He's fast, silly, vocal, and did I mention fast? I can't do crazy high ISOs on my camera, and while the natural light from the windows was amazing, it wasn't a ton of light. I had to open my aperture almost the whole way, and was working with a slower-than-I-would-like shutter speed. Did this cause some technical flaws? Sure. But I'm also pretty sure I captured the essence of this little guy, and that matters most.

And without further ado:

Thanks for stopping by! Leave some love in the comments!

365 Project, Week 2

I'm a week behind in posting, yeah, yeah. But I am still shooting everyday. Sometimes it's right at bedtime because I forgot all day, but I'm trying. I really really do not like posting photos that are not my best work, but some days are just a big miss. I'll post them anyway.

I'd love to know which ones are your favorites, and why. Leave me a comment at the bottom! Without further ado:

Day 8, Transformers fun.

Day 9, Giggles with Daddy at bedtime.

Day 10, The coolest kid at Busch Gardens.

Day 10, That's a lot of popcorn.

Day 10, Tiger watching.

Day 11, Snoozing.

Day 12, Entranced with Mommy's phone.

Day 13, To play or not to play.

Day 14, Crayon madness.

Day 14, I'll color Iron Man anything I want.

Day 14, All the colors.

Day 15, Bulkhead and Prime. (Yes, I know that's not really Bulkhead, but that's what he calls him. And he knows almost all the Transformers, btw.)

Day 16, Deep thoughts in Starbucks.

Gender Bender Hipster Ariel Baby Cosplay

My son loves Ariel, from Disney's "The Little Mermaid." He calls her "mermaid." He requests that I sing "mermaid" (the part of your world number Ariel sings). And most redhead cartoon girls are called, mermaid. Loves her, he does. And we are a cosplaying family, as you can recall here, here, and here. I was inspired by his mermaid love, and some cute bow ties made by Sophie's Splendid Shop, and voila, the gender bender hipster Ariel Baby Cosplay idea was born.

Let's break that down... Ariel, as well as the other Disney princesses, are cosplayed often. Hipster Ariel sprung from a collection of funny memes that use a screen shot of a scrunchy Ariel face with some black rimmed glasses overlayed:

So the hipster Ariel cosplay was right behind the meme, and it's great:

But I have a little boy, not a girl. No worries, you see gender bender all the time in cosplay: 

So first, I created a Polyvore board with my costume ideas...



And without further ado, my results!

Of course, I had to do my own meme...he even got the annoyed lip snarl right! I had so much fun with this whole project, and I hope you enjoy it too!

365 Project

One of my New Year's goal is to complete a 365 photography project. I have to use my real camera, nothing from my phone. I'm trying a "lifestyle" approach. I've found that I'm pretty controlling with my shoots, even with my son, and I'm missing out on life's little moments. I'm also trying to be more creative with my compositions and point of view...most of my photos are taken at eye-level. I've been in such a rut, I needed something to force inspire me to shoot more. So I'm shooting everyday, my son as my muse. I shoot around 30-50 shots, and choose my favorite one or two to edit. I'm going to TRY to post weekly. So keep posted!

Day 1, Still in his pjs.

Day 2, Lording over the gate at the park.

Day 3, Toys at home.

Day 4, The hide game with Daddy.

Day 5, Delicious cake pop at Starbucks. 

Day 6, Amazing peepers. 

Day 7, Running to Mommy.

Free Comic Book Day!

For all you comic fans out there, you probably know that Saturday, May 3rd is free comic book day.  My hubs (wisely) suggested that I whip up a promo to use at his favorite local comic shop since I'm all about baby cosplay.  There are always lots of kids and parents there, and who wouldn't want a professional portrait of their little Superman?  The promo will be available at Hero's Haven comic shop in Tampa, and I'll be around tomorrow as well.  My husband (Stephen Wittmaak, aka Switt!) will be there selling his illustrations.

Here's a lookie-see in case you can't make it out!

Superman Baby Cosplay!

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Superman Baby Cosplay!  Okay, I'm done with the cheese...probably.  It's been TOO LONG since my last baby cosplay post, but I'm happy to be back in the swing of things.

So without further ado, I present Superman (Clark Kent) and his pal, Jimmy Olsen!

Just a couple of cuties.

Could these guys be any cuter?  I really wanted to do the Clark Kent cosplay, as opposed to the traditional Superman.  I guess I prefer something less costume-y.  You should have seen the crazy sounds I was making to try to get both of these guys to look at me at the same time.  And then there was the running.  Mostly by my son (playing Jimmy).  That long hallway behind the boys was just too much temptation.

Another of this dynamic duo:

Up, up, and away!  I hope Jimmy got that on film!

Here's are a few of Clark Kent, with his trademark glasses, of course!

The cutest Superman ever!

I'd probably smile like that if I had superpowers!

And a couple of little Jimmy Olsen:

Jimmy's got the latest scoop on Superman!

Say cheese!

I have to hand it to our little Superman cosplayer...he was perfect for this role!  And those smiles!  Would you believe that he was scared of me when he first arrived?  Thankfully, he warmed up, and as you can see, he is a natural model.

I can't wait to do more baby cosplay!  Make sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram for the latest happenings.

-Stefanie