In true dramatic fashion, the Fourth Annual Most Beautiful Baby Contest came to a close with a last-minute sitting on February 28, which is the last date a sitting for the contest was available.
The real drama came in the next few days as judging was very close, and the scoring so tight that we had two second place winners!
Below is each of the five winners, and a little bit about each.
George (the Fifth, no less) was our first entrant. His mother, Debra, is a client from long ago. We’d photographed her wedding many years ago, and George is their first child. He was very open and seemed to know that he had a purpose in being cooperative and helpful. His blue eyes were the talk of everyone here, and I personally really liked how solemn he looks in this picture.
George placed as an Honorable Mention. I mean, how could we resist those eyes, right?
Many of you will remember Josh from last year. In fact, he won last year’s contest. His mom brought him back since he was still eligible and he needed some updated photos. Josh wasted no time getting into the spirit of things, and we had a rousing game of chase the car (the one he’s holding) along with several other posed photos. It was great to see Joshua (and his mother, Shawna) again. Josh placed Honorable Mention this year, with a whole new look from a year ago.
Madison was a new client for us, but took right to things like she belonged here. Along with her mother, Renee we got some great photos of Madison doing all kinds of things in the camera room. It is always fascinating to see the little ones at play, because you long for the days when your biggest concern is which toy to play with first. She was a delightful little girl, and she tied for second place with the next listing.
The other second place winner came to us via family. Our eldest daughter, Jessica, wanted to enter the daughter of one of her best friends into the contest. While we always welcome family members and their friends, we didn’t quite know how this little one would take to us, even though she knows Jessie quite well. A little shy at first, Briana warmed up to Diana (who helped quite a bit during this and other sittings), which gave us the opportunity to get some great images. We liked one image from her sitting so much that it will have a place on our wall in the coming week.
In years past I have envied the judges a bit. I’ve had my favorites, and wanted to be part of the process that picks the Most Beautiful Baby. But not this year. I would not have wanted to try to pick among all these lovely children for the top prize. Santana’s grandmother called us from Frostburg to enter her granddaughter into the contest, who lives in nearby Martinsburg. From the first picture, Santana was hamming to the camera and seemed to know exactly where to look. Not only was she a great subject, but she was just a very happy baby. After taking quite a few posed and candid shots of Santana, Diana suggested laying her on her belly on our white fur rug (it’s faux fur, by the way) and seeing what would happen. It was easy to see how quickly she adapted, and so I sat on the floor and started snapping. She just kept looking at the camera, and one of our favorite shots from this sitting ended up being the winner of this year’s contest. Santana enjoys the year-long reign of Most Beautiful Baby.
The success of our contest has grown far and wide, too. Recently a client who lives in Hedgesville commented on how she’d been keeping up with the contest. She has no children or grandchildren young enough to enter, but just loved seeing the cute kids. How’s that for adventure?
We love the kids, and do lots of children’s sittings every year. Congratulations to all our winners, and thanks to all of our prize sponsors, entrants and judges.