Searching for a Beautiful Baby
It all started in mid-January. Our annual ritual of taking pictures of lots of babies and letting someone decide who’s the most beautiful of them all. This little contest of ours has grown each year, and this was the best year of them all because we got to meet so many new babies and their parents.
Our first baby was Brooke. At 23 months, she was so self-assured and confident that I didn’t really need to do much more than keep bringing out props for her to use. She quickly wowed the rest of the staff because she was both willing to do just about any pose and was funny to watch. Her parents were delighted at how cooperative she was. Both grandparents were along for the show and also participated in a family sitting held at the same time. Brooke was one of our favorites simply because she was so easy to work with.
Next was Cameron… and not my grandson Cameron, either. Heather’s boy Cameron was also quite the cooperative gentleman once he got past the initial jitters. He was very self-involved and played a lot on the floor before doing any kind of posing. The funniest incident of all our babies occurred with Cameron, when his mom and grandmother donned him in a chicken suit. Now, mind you it was not a regular chicken suit. It is designed to appear as though the child is riding the chicken, with fake legs dangling off the sides and the child’s legs passing through the “chicken” and into leggings that look like chicken legs. As if that wasn’t funny enough, Cameron spent a lot of time sitting or laying on the floor, and gave us a great “chicken butt” pose to round out the sitting. Cameron was voted as the 2nd place winner. 
Kai is the grandson of one of Diana’s old high school buddies and we were happy to have him in the contest. He wasted no time getting into just about anything he could carry or bounce on. This made it easy to take pictures of him because he was so busy doing anything he could to keep busy. He seemed fascinated at one point with the padded puzzle pieces we have and was carrying them around, which made for some adorable images. When he started laughing at his own silliness, the camera couldn’t keep up with the picture opportunities.
Shortly after Kai left, we met DJ. DJ is the son of one of Jessica’s (my stepdaughter) best friends. He arrived in a little tie and vest outfit, which he wore most of the way through the sitting. His mom and aunt helped keep him occupied by standing near the mounted camera. But as usual the best of DJ’s images came from the hand-held camera. He was so fascinated with everything around him that it wasn’t hard to get good pictures of him. He did spend some quality time on the cell phone; making a few calls and taking care of business. I’m sure most of the recipients of those calls still wonder who it was. DJ’s mom and aunt also posed for a photo for their mom for a present.
Griffin was next and provided the best sports images with his own golf gear and horse-riding skills. But since Griffin had so many outfits, he was also a carpenter, engineer and Elmo’s best friend. This is something we encourage because it truly demonstrates the many facets of a child’s personality. Griffin was more than ready to explain his prowess on the golf course, or how best to build whatever we needed built. Entertaining was Griffin’s best weapon and we thoroughly enjoyed his sitting.
Noah was just about the youngest of our entrants at eight months of age. As is typical of the age, he spent a lot of time playing with anything that was within his reach. But the pictures of him in the bunny costume were his most adorable. When his mom also brought along plastic eggs and his Easter basket, there was about nothing more precious. The most touching was one of him with his granddaddy’s fire helmet in the background.
Katie was our next little one. 14 months old and the proud baby of young parents, she quickly found her footing and became the baby that laughed the most during her session. It was so fun to see her play without ever having toys to keep her occupied. She had three outfits, all lovely and very seasonal. She had such a great disposition right from the start and was eager to be as happy as possible. Her very helpful mom and dad were wonderful at keeping her from getting bored… and daddy was clearly the reason why Katie laughed so much.
Destinee was easily the most affectionate of the children, spending lots of time kissing her mommy, her grandma and our big stuffed Pooh Bear. With lots of smiles and a great personality, Destinee’s session was quick and easy and she seemed to have a great time. Our rocking horse has never been kissed so many times. We deemed her the kissing bandit just before she left.
Ellie was the shiest initially. She slowly warmed up, but not before we took some hand-held photos while she was clinging to and around her mom. She couldn’t resist the big crayons and spent a lot of time moving them around and unwittingly being cute all on her own. One thing that most of the kids do eventually is warm up enough to start talking and telling us things… Ellie was no exception and was full of chatter by the time she left, even though she absolutely hated the pretty pink dress. Ellie placed fourth in the voting by our judges, and was awarded an honorable mention.
Little Joshua won all our hearts pretty quickly, despite having very few smiles and seeming much older than his youngest of the contest age of seven months. His parents are new residents in our area, but you wouldn’t know it by how easily Joshua made friends. His favorite pose was lying on his belly, which apparently was hilarious since it was one of the only times he smiled big and broad. This cutie also was the first place winner.
The last entrant was a repeat entry from the previous year, Meadow. We were tentative at first because Meadow started crying before she came into the studio last year, and cried several times during and after her session. This year, it was a complete turnabout. She was our best friend right up front and wasted no time getting right into the studio and starting to take pictures. Her mom has been a repeat client since high school and was very helpful, assuring Meadow that there were no doggies, of which Meadow is apparently afraid. Meadow came in third this year, and placed second in last year’s contest.
Overall, we had a great time. And we think the kids did, too. Every one of the entrants deserved to win in our opinion. But the judges were the final say and we stood by their decisions. For those who are interested, there were four judges. All judges saw the photos independent of one another and made their own decisions on 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. First place was given three value points, 2nd place was given two value points and 3rd place was given one value point. The total combined points determined the winners in each place.
We were glad to see everyone and meet a bunch of new faces. We’re looking forward to doing it again next year and making even more new friends.