new brother

He’d been an only child for nearly 16 years, his mom admitting he was none too happy to hear the news of her expecting a baby. By the time I met them both at his mom’s maternity photo session though, he seemed quite accepting of the fact there would be a new baby in the house and curious as to what this new creature might be like, if not exactly thrilled over the idea. That he even came with her to the first session was a testimony to how much he cares for his mother.

I photographed the newly expanded family when his baby brother was only 2 weeks old (although a whopping ten pounder!)…….barely enough time to fully adjust to their suddenly turned upside down home. I’ve rarely seen a first time father as comfortable handling a newborn as this teen was with his brother. He was a terrific sport the entire duration of the two hour shoot, tempering his complaining as much as could be expected.

What I like most about the first image I‘ve posted here is the naturalness with which it came about. The teen had had a late night with friends prior to the shoot and pretty much found any and every opportunity to get horizontal that he could. I’d been photographing the mom and baby against a studio backdrop when the baby suddenly spit up all over her, so she lay him on her eldest son’s chest while she cleaned her shirt. Within a few moments the newborn was asleep, allowing me a sequence of images that were among my favorites of the session. The teen wasn’t feigning sleep himself to make for a restful looking portrait, but was instead looking down at his new baby brother with what I perceived as genuine awe.

I think as portrait photographers we tend to see the ideal of that in front of us in order to create worthy images. In my mind I saw this teen as the most wonderful son and brother, attentive to the baby and helpful to his mother. I imagined him turning down his music when the baby sleeps…….picking up after himself…….giving his mother little cause for concern as to his activities so that she may attend to the more immediate needs of his little brother…….and maybe even changing a diaper on occasion.

I’ve grappled in the past with whether this idealistic mode of seeing distorts the images I make, and perpetuates an untruth. But I am a portrait photographer not a photojournalist, and I’m paid to make life appear a bit more pretty and poetic than might be observable reality. What I like to believe though, is that the Pollyanna way in which I see things is ultimately the greater truth. That underneath the superficial and contrived, underneath the struggles and the discord and the disappointments in life, lie the very things I’m trying to reveal through my photographs: Beauty, love, loyalty, joy, connection, and peace.

~Cynthia

PS I could not for anything get decent scans from these prints and nearly gave up posting at all……but the words had already escaped my head, were put to paper, and required the images to go along with them. In the first photo in particular, the actual print does not reveal either blown highlights or blocked shadow areas…..so there you have my excuses!