Dealing with family

I been trying to build my portfolio up slowly and been trying to get pictures of my family starting with the kids. A sessions I did was around October with my little cousins was okay but it got dark too fast and most of the pictures was just too dark and at the time my lens just failed on the focus in low light and most of the pictures where OFF or underexposed which ended up grainy. Wanted to try again the weekend with my new 85mm 1.8 we drive out to the location that Saturday and the kid fell asleep in the car. So didn't even get any fall pictures. After that it just got cold too fast for a kid to be outside. I even brought his outfit, which his mom thought she was getting.

Fast forward I had a family member having a baby in December so I prepared brought bowls, furs, floors, wraps, hats and blankets and a new 50mm 1.4. I was able to take some pictures of the baby at day 6 but I wasn't satisfied with the way it looked so I asked his mom could I try again a few days later and she was like okay and she will be over that day. I told her I needed to do it before the baby turned 14 days and she agrees. That day I setup and waited. Come 4 o'clock she never showed and I got tired so I took it all down. This was a monday. He turned 14 days on a Thursday. I haven't heard from her since. Now today is Friday and I give up. Because I know I won't get the shot I want. I tried before with an older newborn in August and he just kept waking up. So I wanted a new new born that's why I researched and waited months for this new baby.

Feel like I wasted money on all this stuff dealing with my family. They think all the first pictures I did is amazing but I see a million things wrong with the pictures. How can I build my portfolio up if my family just not helping me? I'm about ready to say forget it. I can try again in the spring. But I don't know anybody else having a baby and dont feel ready to get on Facebook and ask. Sorry for the rant.

Just because the baby is more than 14 days old doesn't mean you can't get the pictures you want. You may just have to work a little harder. Babies eat, sleep and poop - not necessarily in that order. You just have to catch it at the sleep time. You might consider going to their house where the baby is comfortable instead of making them come to you.

Ever thought that maybe newborns take a lot of your time and effort and using them as a model for you just might be low on the priority list? Instead of the baby fitting into your schedule, maybe you should try fitting into the baby's schedule.

Good summation of what I was trying to say.

Two thoughts:

1) If you want reliable models, you should pay them. These photos are obviously a lot more important to you than they are to the subjects, and so you are pushing your expectations onto them. I'm hearing this whining tone from your post where you have invested all this money in props (that you are keeping) so you feel like your free models should drop everything and come work for you for some pictures that they like OK but did not specifically ask for. Stop that. You can take what you get from free models, or you can pay models and get what you want.

2) I get the feeling you do not have any kids. Having a newborn can be difficult, especially for a first time mother. The mother may have significant physical recuperation going on from delivery (especially in case of a surgical birth) and she may be a little overwhelmed with a new person that is suddenly dependent on her for everything all day long. Getting up several times a night can be disorienting too.

And here you come, pissed at her for not supporting your portfolio development with her time and her child, who you really just see as another prop (albeit one you do not have to purchase).

OneDeep, one thing that might help, don't feel bad about asking for help from people you know on Facebook. I have done shoots for people that I asked for volunteers from FB. I am like you and working on developing my shooting skills as well as getting shots for a future portfolio website.
If you offer some tangible return for them, free photos on a disk, they will often times work with you. I have also found when people pay something, really anything, they are usually more willing to work with you on timing or your needs. I don't get it. But on the two times I have charged, I got better cooperation and they seemed to like the results more than those that I did free work for.

NB's are hard work; it's one of those things that I feel an assistant helps greatly or at least a client that can help you out.

Don't give up if you enjoy it. Prop hunting is a constant business with newborns. And like others have said 14 days isn't a cutoff; it's ideal but then you're limiting yourself to babies after two weeks. A 10 day old I had recently was awake most of the time. Things happen. Practice and get it critiqued and just aim for what you want to achieve. I wouldn't expect things to go well just because NB is less than x-number of days.

buy a toy baby and figure out how to take the picture, then swap it out for a real newborn.

hes gone wrote in post #16557839
=he's gone;16557839]buy a toy baby and figure out how to take the picture, then swap it out for a real newborn.

I wonder what the gestation period for mannequin's is?

JeffreyG wrote in post #16556931
I get the feeling you do not have any kids. Having a newborn can be difficult, especially for a first time mother. The mother may have significant physical recuperation going on from delivery (especially in case of a surgical birth) and she may be a little overwhelmed with a new person that is suddenly dependent on her for everything all day long. Getting up several times a night can be disorienting too.

And here you come, pissed at her for not supporting your portfolio development with her time and her child, who you really just see as another prop (albeit one you do not have to purchase).

Exactly, well said. Caring for a newborn is a demanding, overwhelming and exhausting business - however joyful.

As photographers we can be too ready to assume that photos are as important to others as they are to us. We might think they'll be thrilled to let us practice on them in return for pictures which are probably somewhat better than those they could take with their iPhones or P&S cameras, but this won't always be the case. People have other interests, priorities and demands on their time - especially with a newborn in the house. They don't necessarily value photos in the way we enthusiasts do.

If you've displayed the sort of attitude evident in your post above when interacting with your relative then I'm not surprised she seems to have lost interest. It's not all about you and your portfolio. Maybe you could call her and ask how she's going, see if you can offer her some practical assistance.

You learn something new every day. I didn't know that they went bad after 14 days. I always thought it was 2 years. lol. At any rate, I'd forget the props for now and go where the kids are, shoot some nice environmental portraits in their natural setting. Go help the new mother out and the opportunity will present itself. Natural light, no flash, your 85 wide open.

OneDeep wrote in post #16556744
I been trying to build my portfolio up slowly and been trying to get pictures of my family starting with the kids. A sessions I did was around October with my little cousins was okay but it got dark too fast and most of the pictures was just too dark and at the time my lens just failed on the focus in low light and most of the pictures where OFF or underexposed which ended up grainy. Wanted to try again the weekend with my new 85mm 1.8 we drive out to the location that Saturday and the kid fell asleep in the car. So didn't even get any fall pictures. After that it just got cold too fast for a kid to be outside. I even brought his outfit, which his mom thought she was getting.

Fast forward I had a family member having a baby in December so I prepared brought bowls, furs, floors, wraps, hats and blankets and a new 50mm 1.4. I was able to take some pictures of the baby at day 6 but I wasn't satisfied with the way it looked so I asked his mom could I try again a few days later and she was like okay and she will be over that day. I told her I needed to do it before the baby turned 14 days and she agrees. That day I setup and waited. Come 4 o'clock she never showed and I got tired so I took it all down. This was a monday. He turned 14 days on a Thursday. I haven't heard from her since. Now today is Friday and I give up. Because I know I won't get the shot I want. I tried before with an older newborn in August and he just kept waking up. So I wanted a new new born that's why I researched and waited months for this new baby.

Feel like I wasted money on all this stuff dealing with my family. They think all the first pictures I did is amazing but I see a million things wrong with the pictures. How can I build my portfolio up if my family just not helping me? I'm about ready to say forget it. I can try again in the spring. But I don't know anybody else having a baby and dont feel ready to get on Facebook and ask. Sorry for the rant.

People don't make babies for photographers. Stop acting like you're entitled to shoot them. They're doing you a huge favor by allowing you to practice and, what seems to be happening so far, waste their time. Be grateful for the cooperation you do get.

If you want unlimited access to a newborn baby, make one of your own. The cost of those props won't be squat compared to your other expenses...and stresses.

J Michael wrote in post #16558676
You learn something new every day. I didn't know that they went bad after 14 days. I always thought it was 2 years.

Well they are ~98% milk.

OneDeep wrote in post #16556744
They think all the first pictures I did is amazing but I see a million things wrong with the pictures. How can I build my portfolio up if my family just not helping me?

I also agree with a lot of what was already said.

One other suggestion I have is for you to buy a baby doll or something to test with so you can play with the lighting and props on your own schedule. Now of course, this doesn't directly accomplish what you want to do to build your portfolio but this will prepare you in the rare opportunities you will be able to photograph the real thing.

A lot of the lighting gurus that participate in the lighting forum have mannequins that they use as a model to test new lighting/lights.