Baby Tennessee // Baraboo newborn photographer

This is my exceptionally cute nephew, Tennessee James. I was honored to get to be there for his birth last week, which will forever be one of the most amazing moments of my life. Yesterday I got to take his newborn photos at his beautiful new home.

My sister said two of the things she wanted to make sure to capture were his crusty belly button and the peach fuzz hair covering his back… which probably sounds kind of unappealing if you’re not a mother. If you are, however, you know those sweet little details pass all too quickly, along with his peas-in-the-pod toes, and his slightly crossed milky blue eyes, and the cinnamon bun swirl of hair at the crown of his head.

There is a trend now to pose newborn babies in someone else’s hats and on someone else’s props, and elaborately pose and then Photoshop the heck out of them until they look like creepy porcelain dolls. That’s just not me, and I’m lucky because that’s just not my sister, either.

Newborn photography should be family photography. It should be about stopping time for just a bit, and remembering the sweet little imperfect details that marked the start of your life with your child. It should be as real and beautiful as how you’re feeling right now. It should bring you back to that feeling in the years to come, and help you show that boy how much love and tenderness you felt for him from the start — and that to you, he has always been perfect just the way he is. I’m so proud to get to present that to you here.