drew bittel & her boys • at home and around town • orange county photographer

Drew hired me just before their move. She wanted me to come over and capture them in their first home before everything changed. We had a rocky start, having to reschedule several times due to heat, face scrapes, and pink eye. Time was marching on, closer and closer to their move date we crept. We started joking that the shoot was cursed and the day that it finally worked out, she warned me to be careful on my way over because neither of us would be surprised if I suddenly got a flat tire. Thankfully, I didn’t.

The spot in the house that she really wanted us to focus on was her bedroom. Momma and baby spend a lot of time together during the day, snuggling between laptop editing sessions and Madagascar. So that is where we started.

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Little B, as they affectionately call him, was not in the best mood. He had either missed a nap, or hadn’t had a long enough nap…lets just say that he was not keen on the notion of a photo shoot. (But honestly, what toddler is?) You would never know by looking at these that he was an unwilling subject. I did everything I could to keep a smile on his face. If babies aren’t happy, give them what they want, I say! (I will make a fantastic grandma.) Peekaboo was the one of the first tricks I pulled from my hat.

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Snuggles were also top on his list of things he wanted to do.

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A quick stop in his room…

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And another in the kitchen to get a drink and a little snack…

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and then we were off on a little walk around their neighborhood.

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Mommy + Daddy + B = 3

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Another thing Drew wanted to try to incorporate was their white Ikea couch. She had an amazing maternity session (her own) where she used the couch, so she (and I) both thought it would be cool to use with B no longer in utero. And although most of the session went something like this….

“Come here, B…please cutie?….just for a second….lets go see what Mom has! Don’t you want to go jump on the couch?” etc

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He was just enough of a trooper to do just enough of what we asked, so we could get the good stuff like this.

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I also shared a few of the images from Drew and Chuck’s session a few weeks back, if you care to link over for a few more.

Thanks again you two, I loved every minute.

xo

Tara

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57 Comments

  1. Tara these images are awesome and doesn’t look like an unhappy baby to me. You worked your magic again! My fave are the baby’s feet sticking out of the crib and dad’s black feet on the last one. The images are fabulous they must be THRILLED!!

  2. hhhhmmmmmm this neighborhood looks VERY familiar…like maybe i lived there for ten years. :) and spent most of my tuesday evenings with my kids at that farmers market. the pictures are so great and make me kinda miss california a bit. so pretty!

  3. That one where all three have their heads together and the baby is looking at the camera slyly with thumb in mouth…is one of my all-time favorites you’ve taken so far. Such a neat picture and such a look you caught on that little face. I love it!

  4. beautiful shots! you’d never know he was’nt in a photoshoot mood! You said peek-a-boo was the first in your bag of tricks. Question for you, Tara…what else is in that bag of tricks?? My bag is feeling empty lately…I think all of us photographers sometimes need some fresh ideas to keep a shoot fun for those toddlers! I would love to hear some of your ideas for keeping shoots FUN :)
    hope you enjoy your summer, and it is one to remember :)

    thanks!
    Kendra

  5. O.k…that settles it, I am going to start saving right now to fly out to Cali, take a little Disney Vacation and hire you to capture my family! It may be 2 years before we get there…but I am determined ;)

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