An Exciting Experience with a Beautiful Family, the Father of Which You May Know from the Toronto Raptors

It isn’t every day you get the opportunity to photograph a baby whose father is a forward for the Toronto Raptors. Back in October, I had the honour of taking baby portraits of adorable Amelia Johnson, daughter of Amir Johnson.

At the time, Amelia was just shy of her one-month birthday. As I described last week, babies who are older than 5 to 8 days, the ideal age for baby photography, present some unique challenges that would require any Toronto baby photographer to be on their toes. Challenges aside, the family and baby portraits captured during my two sessions with Amelia and her parents aren’t just memorable because they feature a celebrity, but because I think they truly capture the love that emanated from this little family.

Looking back, the Johnson sessions were also the perfect example of how baby photography can be made to reflect the unique style of any family, by using props that portray parents’ passions and occupations. It also reminded this Toronto baby photographer that every session is unique and that you’ve got to be prepared to adjust and adapt to baby’s cues, overcoming challenges with a little creativity and patience to capture images that make you proud to say it was your eye behind the lens.

Baby Portraits that Are Unique Representations of a Family

To see that there was a basketball in some of Amelia’s baby portraits is probably not that surprising. For me, however, this baby photography session was the first time I had ever attempted to pose a baby on top of a basketball. Amir and Amelia’s mother brought with them a plush basketball, but being a stickler for authenticity, I asked if we could use a real basketball in the photos. Posing a baby, who was nearly one-month-old at the time, on top of a ball in her father’s arms was no easy feat, but a challenge I was excited to take on.

The Challenges of Baby Photography After the First 10 Days

As I mentioned, after the 10 day mark babies typically become more alert and Amelia was no exception. Although she was well beyond the age range that’s optimal for baby photography, I was determined to find ways to work with her alertness so that I could still take the types of baby portraits her parents envisioned. Luckily, Amelia was a very calm and happy baby who I could soothe to sleep easily, it just took a little more time and patience to take her baby portraits.

In fact, I can remember kneeling over Amelia until my legs went numb, waiting for her to fall into a deep enough sleep so I could take a photograph of her dressed in a beautiful handmade bonnet and skirt. Amelia’s mother saw a photograph of a week-old baby girl wearing the same outfit in my gallery, and wanted something similar for her daughter. It took a little time, but I think that image turned out beautifully.

For Amir, I knew the baby portraits with the basketball were important. This is what Amir does, it’s his passion. To not photograph the daughter of someone in the NBA with a basketball just didn’t seem natural. As I mentioned, the pose would have been challenging for a Toronto baby photographer who was trying to take the photograph of a week-old baby, let alone a baby who was moving around, but using my assistant as a spotter reassured everyone that Amelia was safe while these photos were taken. They’re memorable images, to say the least.

A Note on Posing Babies

Being a Toronto baby photographer for several years now, I’ve learned that having a spotter who isn’t the mother of the baby works best because of babies’ natural instincts. Did you know that a baby can smell its mother up to 20 feet away? When they sense their mother is nearby, a baby often fusses as a way to communicate that they want to be close. Considering this, I typically have moms sit at the side of the room, where they can still see what’s going on but aren’t close enough to distract baby while they’re being posed and photographed.

Not the First Celebrity Baby Session for this Toronto Baby Photographer

I confess, photographing the daughter of Amir Johnson was actually the second time I’ve taken baby portraits for a professional athlete. Back in the winter of 2011, I had the pleasure of photographing the baby of Mikhail Grabovski, who then played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and is now with the Washington Capitals.

As a photographer, it’s definitely exciting when you have a celebrity and their family visit your studio, but just like the parents of any other baby, they want the same things–quality baby portraits they’ll still love to look at after their little ones celebrate their first birthdays, their 20th birthdays and beyond. While it’s undoubtedly an honour to be the Toronto baby photographer the Johnson and Grabovski families chose, my job is the same no matter whose children are in the photos; to artistically capture a moment in time, to the best of my ability.

For more information on baby portraits or to book a session, please call me at (905) 449-2200.