I had just gotten back from a week long vacation when I was contacted by Debi about her granddaughter that was just born in Charleston. Her daughter, Annabelle gave birth to Luna a month early. Annabelle and Erik had just moved into their new home in Summerville, boxes still carefully placed about with a nursery that was incomplete. Debi wanted to purchase the session for them as a gift for their early arrival of Luna. They opted for a FULL newborn session, so this would mean all the great lifestyle images taken of the whole family and posed images of baby individually as well- and so began the planning process. 

I chatted with Debi's daughter Annabelle over the phone about their schedule, how Luna was doing, how she was sleeping and feeding. She sent color swaps and pictures she loved from Pinterest and ideas for their currently unfinished nursery. Luckily I had some fabric and headbands on hand that went perfectly for Luna's antique garden nursery theme so I packed up my car and headed over on Luna's at her one week birthday. She wasn't as small as I expected, about 6-7lbs but man, she fed and slept like a ROCK, just like she said! 

When I arrived to the session and unloaded all my goodies I took a look around to evaluate the light and space. Annabelle and Erik told me they stayed up all night trying to finish the nursery the best they could, they did an AMAZING job. I felt so guilty I was hoping they didn't get any less sleep than they would have with a newborn but they said they were determined to at least have a few things on the walls to make it feel more like her nursery than just a space in their home. 

Even though the house was unfinished, unpacked, and they were thrown a loop of having their baby a month early, I was able to find the perfect little niches that had just the perfect morning light to make this session feel complete. I photographed all of Luna's individual portraits in their entryway, basically right next to their front door using a Southwest window for steady light. I brought along a new crate, fur, textured soft yarn blankets, headbands, my trusty black velvet bean bag and incorporated her own baby blanket and flowers Erik had bought to go along with our color theme. You would never know, and shouldn't know by looking at these images, that they were still unpacking. I feel bad now that I told you, did I ruin it? I just wanted to show that you can make gorgeous images of any family, anywhere, you just have to find the highlights and the niches!