Good day, readers! 

The subject of today’s blog post is a certain adorable bundle of joy named Sophia. She arrived at 9:47 pm on 12/3/17 at William Beaumont Army Medical Center. I was truly honored that Christine and Oscar, Sophia’s parents, let me be a part of this monumental milestone in their lives. 

Kids are completely unpredictable. They can be so adorable and easy going and laughing uncontrollably one minute, and the next minute, turn that charm off completely.  ​They will typically smile for you all day long until you put them in front of a camera, then they freeze up like a deer in headlights. We want to avoid the gritted teeth and bug-eyed forced smiles during our session. 

Here are some things you can do:
1. Make a list of things that your child thinks are funny and send it to us prior to the session. This way, we can be prepared and add these things into our bag of tricks.
2. Also give us a list of icebreakers for your child. Tell us the kinds of shows they watch, music they listen to, friends' names, favorite story, etc. This will give us something to talk to them about, and will help them forget they're in front of the camera. 
3. Practice phrases at home to see which ones evoke the best smiles from your child. (Please, oh please, avoid “Say cheese!” unless that really works for you child.) 
4. Try out a couple of jokes with them. During the session, we can ask them to tell us a joke and this will typically loosen them up as they tell it to us.
5. If there is a song that your child loves, load it up to your phone and bring it along with you, or be prepared to sing it for them during the session.
6. Prepare a bribe (such as a toy, a trip to the zoo, etc) and show it to them, or remind them of it, during the session. 

I hope these few tips help you in planning for your children's portrait session! If you have any questions, I am always here to answer!

​Kathleen

Just for fun here's some photos I shot of my daughter Lily who is a proud brand rep for Beck + Co Apparel! Shop Here!

Hi everyone! Welcome back! I have been a busy bumble bee planning this next event and I'm so excited to finally share it! Mother's day is drawing near and what a wonderful time it is to celebrate motherhood. So I decided to offer a limited number of Mommy & Me Mini Sessions!

When: All through the month of May
Where: San Jacinto Plaza - Downtown El Paso
Time: Appointments weeknights between 5 pm and 7 pm, and weekends between 8-10 am and 5-7 pm
The Details: Sessions are 20 minutes long, you will receive 3 digital images with print release and a beautiful mini accordion album with images from your session.

Join me throughout the month of May in Downtown El Paso and let me capture you and your precious children together. 

Even though pregnancy comes with a lot of difficult trials, it is an amazing time in your life. It's a time of celebration and anticipation as you prepare to meet your little bundle of joy! It's a time where you become strong - stronger than you ever thought you could possibly be. During this time, you create your initial bond with your child that will continue throughout your entire lives. 

We’ve all seen those adorable photos of new little babies looking so peaceful and relaxed and, not a care in the world. As new parents, we want similar photos of our children to send out to grandparents, make into screensavers, and blast out to our social media pages to show off our amazing baby. But then session day comes around and BAM! – your baby does not want anything to do with it.

You’re thinking, “Why won’t you stop crying? I’ve literally done everything I can think of, but you’re still not happy. Don’t you know I’m paying good money for this session? Sarah’s baby cooperated in her session, why can’t you just go to sleep and let us get some nice photos?!” If this is happening during your session, I want you to stop, breathe and remember one thing: all newborns cry. This is a natural, real emotion that all newborns have for most of their first few months of life. It’s not abnormal. There is nothing wrong with your child for doing it. It is nothing to be ashamed of. They aren’t doing it to embarrass you. And when you stress out about the fact that your baby is crying, that then makes things even worse because he or she knows you’re upset.

Don’t let the crying upset you. Embrace this moment in time. It won’t be long before you forget how her little forehead wrinkled up whenever she screamed, or how his toes would get all stretched out and tense when he was upset. Let us capture these little details. These crying photos can evoke real emotion and demonstrate the love you have for your child as you try to soothe him or her. Your child can look back at these photos once they’re all grown and remember the solace that they found in your arms. These tender moments are just as important, if not more so, than the sleeping, posed photos.
​
The point of booking a newborn session is to help you preserve the first memories of your child’s life. While posed photos are cute, you’re not going to look back and think, “Remember how cute she was whenever she would lounge around the house in frog-form?” because that didn’t happen. You’ll look back at these photos and remember all the nights you walked your baby around the house or rocked him in a chair and hummed lullabies to try to calm him down. Those times are very stressful, but they also help you form a bond and that’s what makes these photos treasured.
All that being said, if you have your heart set on those peaceful, posed photos, we can always take a break and try again and, if all else fails, reschedule.

You are in a new and exciting time in your life. You’ve now got this adorable, precious little being and you are ready to document his or her first memories in photographs. Here at the Kathleen Mettura ∫ Photographer studio, I want to make this a joyous experience for you and your family. We know now nerve wracking picture day is, especially when you are running on little – to – no sleep. To help you out with this process, we’ve compiled a list of preparation tips to ease some of your stress. If you have any questions at all, feel free to contact me at kmetturaphotographer@gmail.com and we can get you the answers you are looking for.
What to bring
If there is something you would like to include in your photos – a special outfit or blanket, favorite stuffed animal or toy, heirlooms, etc please remember to bring them along and we will be more than happy to incorporate it in your session. The more personal items we use in your session, the more unique these photos will be to your child and your family’s personality. To ensure that your baby is happy and calm during the session, we suggest bringing a blanket that we can swaddle him or her in, as well as a pacifier. Also be sure to have a fresh bottle (if your child is using a bottle) and diapers ready to go.
What to wear
Newborns are not very patient when it comes to outfit changes. We suggest having your child in an outfit you’d like him or her to wear for the photos before you get to the session, covering with a bib or burp rag in case of little incidents. After we take a few photos in this outfit, we prefer to take the rest of the photos in just the diaper, or completely in the nude. In our opinion, babies photograph best this way and they will also cooperate longer if we are not constantly changing their outfits.
If you are going to be in photos with your child, we suggest bringing a backup shirt, just in case. We also suggest that you wear a white or black shirt in case we need to photograph parts of you with your child on the backdrop (for example, just your hands holding the baby) so you don’t stand out. For mommies, we suggest keeping jewelry to a minimum, as babies like to grab hold of these items.
If you have any wardrobe questions, please contact me. I’d be more than happy to help. Thanks for reading! I look forward to your session!

This sweetheart came to see us when she was just six days old! Her mama, Kat, and daddy, Luis, are huge batman fans so I knew we needed to incorporate that into their photos! We also got to use some of our brand new newborn photography props! The Birch Bed was handmade by my studio partner's husband and I put together the beautiful basket with purple fluff the night before little Emily's session. I love getting to spoil my clients with beautiful props! 
Since opening the Desert Violet Studios in Downtown El Paso I have been so lucky to have such amazing families to photograph and I loved adding Emily and her family to the list! Without further adieu I am proud to present beautiful baby Emily Z!