A Newborn Dreams of Sports

Yes folks, we have a boxer in the house!  So often the parents of our little newborns make a request to include some type of sports memorabilia in the pictures with the babies and I’m always eager to accommodate.  Over the years I’ve included everything in photos from race car helmets to hockey sticks.  I guess now I’ve finally worked my way over to the sport of boxing!

I think little Maverick’s newborn photos turned out terrific!  And of course you can tell little Maverick is in on the gag by the way he’s making a fist, showing off his fighting prowess.  It’s just a matter of time before he’s trying the gloves for real!  The most common sports related newborn props I get requests for are, typical of the south, footballs.  Footballs and other collegiate props.  Wait – a couple of baseballs too. Suffice it to say many photos have left my studio emblazoned with the colors of red and black.  That would be the Georgia Bulldogs!

Another interesting tidbit relating to sports themed newborn props is that I’ve also gotten a consistent amount of hockey related requests through the years.  All of which come from couples who have moved down from the north and are missing their favorite sports teams.  The hockey props have been in the form of tiny ice skates, tiny hockey sticks, big hockey sticks, big ice skates, jerseys, hats, you name it.

It’s no easy feat stepping out of my comfort zone of the traditional newborn props I use for my regular photography sessions to the more masculine, grown-up world of sports.  Suffice it to say the aesthetic of my carefully put together newborn world is quickly put in deep jeopardy!  I do my best to showcase the sports props and memorabilia but I think sometimes customers don’t understand what a stretch it is to make the photos jive with the rest of the shoot.

It usually comes down to lighting and angles.  The last thing you want is to have the photographs look like something the parents could have made at home or could have had taken at a department store.  How do I keep it all above board?  By making ‘pretty’ sports-themed newborn pictures!  A deftly situated shadow here, another ray of light seemingly out of nowhere there, a forgotten baseball mitt off to the side (not in the middle of the picture!) and then of course, most importantly a cooperative baby, which Maverick definitely was!

Every once in a while you get some photos with unusual props thrown in that actually turn out great, and that was definitely the case with Maverick’s pictures!