P#40: A Clapping, Smiley Baby

Ah-ah-ah-ahchoo!

Vik Orenstein: This is a little baby laughing. We were talking about different ways to get a kid engaged while we were shooting. For this one, I had a stuffed animal on my head and I repeatedly pretended to sneeze with a great big windup, you know, "Ah, ah, ah, ah choo."

Every time I sneezed, I would let the animal fall off of my head. That kept her amused for a good 15 minutes, believe it or not. We got a lot of laughing and smiling shots of her and not so many pensive ones. That's okay because she was a laughy, smiley kind of baby. (click the image for a larger version)

Audri Lanford: Her teeth are so cute coming in there.

Vik Orenstein: Oh yes. I call these fancy teeth, the early baby teeth. I say, "Oh look, you've got some fancy teeth going on there."

Audri Lanford: The hair clip there, was that a prop or was that just by accident because it really compliments it?

Vik Orenstein: Yes, isn't that funny? Mom put that in there. It's just a really classic little girl, the pink and white check. Originally I was thinking of taking it out for the image that I did for myself, and then I thought, "Well, why would I take that out? It just goes along with the whole baby girl quality," so I left it in there.

In Summary

If you can find the trigger that amuses them, there's nothing quite like a shot of a smiley baby. Once again, Vik Orenstein demonstrates why she's the master of children's photography!