Quality over quantity

“Quality over quantity” is becoming the mantra for life with two babies in the middle of a wedding season that requires more hours of work than we like to admit. For example, when Sweet Cheeks was an infant, Maggie took one photo of him every. single. day. Yes, you read that right. She would prop him up in the same spot, on the same white blanket for a quick photo every single day. It was obsessive and slightly overboard but it was fun. Those pictures are floating around Facebook and sitting on a hard drive somewhere. Daily photos of baby #2? That’s just not going to happen with Chubby Cheeks, and we knew that before he ever arrived. But we realized the daily photos aren’t really worth it. We hardly ever look back at those photos of Sweet Cheeks. Sure it’s nice to see the progression over time, but daily photos are excessive. Instead, we decided to do a more manageable but equally documentary attempt, at weekly photos of Chubby Cheeks. Every Friday we get out the same cream color blanket we’ve always used, prop him up in his bouncy chair next to the window light, and hope to get at least one photo with his eyes on the camera. We have done this for 20 weeks now, and we plan on doing it until his first birthday.

 

 

So while Chubby Cheeks may not have 365 portraits from a point and shoot camera that remain unedited to this day, he will have 52 thoughtfully and intentionally composed portraits to showcase his weekly growth from infant to one year old. Quality over quantity. It’s not a second child thing, it’s not a busy mom thing (although that’s true). It’s a smarter mom thing. And hopefully we’ll have a baby who isn’t so sick of having his picture taken 😉

Chubby Cheeks doesn’t have nearly as many photos as his older brother, but the photos he does have are far better. We’re better photographers now than we were 4 years ago, and we take our time with portraits of this baby. We give time to the photos, and we give time to editing them. The two boys will have baby books full of photos, hard drives jammed packed with photos, frames lining the walls of their home filled with photos of themselves… and hopefully they’ll know just how loved they both are.

The most recent photo session with Chubby Cheeks was his Baptism portrait session. Keep in mind we are NOT newborn/baby photographers but this was good enough for us. Here he is, in his very own, brand new, all white outfit that we bought just for him. In a world of hand me downs, we’re stopping to make sure he gets special things of his own here and there. This outfit was worn all of 45 minutes total, before we immediately took it off, pressed it, and put it in his baby box.

So for all of the Mamas out there, especially those doing this baby thing for a second time, you might want to try repeating these words to yourself and to your second baby… “quality over quantity, quality over quantity.”

😉