I photographed a celebrity! (Leesburg, VA newborn photographer)

OMG, you guys!!  So you know how pretty much every industry has its own celebrities?  Like, Warren Buffet is a business-world celebrity, and Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chef?   Well, the photography world has its own celebrities, too!  And on December 31st, one of them, Rachel Brenke, reached out to me asking for information for booking a newborn photography session!
We were in the midst of preparing breakfast at the time, and I picked up my phone to thumb through my emails and probably scared the bejeebus out of my hubby when I was like “Oh…my…gosh!  Rachel Brenke just emailed me!!”
He was also probably like, who’s Rachel Brenke?  So I promptly explained that she’s like the photography business guru.  She has a great blog and Facebook page (36,000+ fans!) that helps photographers run their businesses with ideas on marketing, contracts and legalese, work-life balance and more.  I’ve been following her blog for years, and on more than one occasion thought to myself, I would really love to meet this woman and become her new BFF because she always comes across as so fun-loving and kind!  But then she emailed MEEEE!!  Woweee!
So I dropped everything in the kitchen, right in the middle of breakfast prep, and ran over to my computer to start drafting a reply.  My hubby was deserted to continue breakfast prep without me and was only mildly irritated because he could tell how much I was freaking out (in a good way!).  Rachel emailed me back a couple more times that day with follow up questions, which totally had me jumping up and down!
That night was New Year’s Eve, and we had an impromptu NYE dinner party with neighbors, and I couldn’t resist telling them about it.  I was all, so I know she’s probably talking to lots of photographers, and I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but it would be so cool if she chose me!
By the 2nd, I hadn’t heard back so I did my usual follow-up (my unsolicited advice for the day: always follow up!!) and she booked her session that day!!  I couldn’t believe it!!
It had been a while since I’ve had butterflies before a session, but you’ve got to believe I did for hers!  Her little baby arrived on February 3rd, and she and her husband came by on the 9th for little Evelyn’s session.  It went so great!  Rachel was just as sweet in person as I’d always imagined, and little Evie didn’t make a peep.
Here are the photos!  Rachel also grabbed a few behind-the-scenes photos with her cell phone and sent them to me, so I’m going to share those with you, too!

  
Rachel had sent me a Pinboard for her session, so I used some of those photos as inspiration for props and poses.  I love getting inside my clients’ heads!
We had several email discussions about props and colors.  We decided to go with a white, pink and gray theme, which I LOVE (after all, they’re my business colors, too!).

Here’s the behind-the-scenes for the above portraits!  It’s important to know that safety-conscious photographers use composited images in Photoshop to keep the baby safe.  I’d rather spend the time cloning a few wooden boards into the background than putting the baby in any danger.  Evie’s dad kept his hands on her the entire time!

 


Another behind-the-scenes!  I’m lighting-obsessed!  I’ll move my softbox all around during the session to create the most flattering shadows.

I was honored to be the first photographer to use Baby Le Cradle’s new Angelina short set.  It looks GORGEOUS on Evie!



Another fun behind-the-scenes!  Yes, I wear jeans in my 85 degree studio.  Crazy, I know!

The resulting image: 
I was soooo happy with how the session went!  I wasn’t as nervous about sending Rachel the photos as I thought I’d be.  I was so proud of them and hoped she would love them as much as I do!  She bought them all the same day I sent the gallery to her!  Yippee!!
There’s really no greater honor than having someone in your own field of work hire you to help them out.  I am so excited that Rachel is one of five talented photographers who have booked sessions with me in 2015!   And Rachel is bringing her oldest daughter back in a couple weeks to get some solo portraits of her as well!!  I’ll be sure to share one or two favorites on my Facebook page!
BTW, since I now have a handle on this whole “celebrity photographer” thing, someone please tell RGIII to contact me for his baby’s portraits!  I mean, he lives like only 15 minutes from me!  My husband thanks you… 🙂
Interested in scheduling with me, too?  I’m currently booking for mid-August and beyond.  I keep my availability updated on my website here.
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