I'm just going to say it. Overhead mid-day sunlight - not the friend of the momtographer. With the exception perhaps of the middle of the night, if you can pick any other light in which to take portraits, pick it. But that's the thing about Momtography - our job is to document our kiddos lives... and sometimes we can't help the light.  So our job is to take the big lemon in the sky and make photographic lemonade.

So why is it such a challenge?  Well, think about the light of the midday sun - it streams down directly and harshly from above. If you could even see their eyes under those squinty eyelids, they would be made dark by the shadows cast by their brow bones. And wow, the contrast just isn't' pretty… is that a nose or a sundial?

Last week we took our girls to the beach for a staycation getaway.  The oil spill has prevented us from making use of the waves (the water's open, but momma's not allowing) - but the pool's still perfect, the restaurants are still yummy, and the sand's still open for playing!

It was my first "real" chance to take sibling portraits of my three-year-old and her 9-week-old sister. Anyone who's ever tried this is laughing at me right about now.  Even with grandma just inches outside of the frame, it wasn't easy. First, let's pretend that the three-year-old knows how to properly support the infant:

Now let's pretend that both (or even one!) might look at the camera:

Or when they do, that they aren't giving a fake smile:

For 50 or so shots, you may get one lucky one in:

So we (my mom and I) stopped and thought about it. Here's what we figured out... First, that newborn is still going to be hard to position, even moreso in the charge of an older child.  So we still have to position the infant as though it's an infant!  On land I would use a beanbag or a boppy under a blanket.  At the beach, carve out your own positioner in the sand and place a blanket over it!  Here, my mom dug out a hole in the sand while I held the newborn, the blanket while the three-year-olds ran circles around us and I tried to keep the sand out of my camera!

Once we dug the hole, we repositioned the blanket and placed the baby where she looked good on her own...

And then added the older children as observers...

Once we got them into position, a funny thing happened... we didn't have to give them any more direction.

You can emulate this look at home either in front of the window or out in the yard by placing the infant in a boppy, with a couch cushion or two behind it.  Cover with a blanket, and your kiddos will be eye to eye.

Plus, you won't have to deal with the sand :)