An Outdoor Newborn Photography Session in San Diego

If you live in San Diego, you are very well aware of the crazy amounts of rain we have been getting over the past few weeks.  We have definitely needed all of it, and it’s so great that our drought is no longer an issue this year.  You know what’s awesome about our recent rain?  It’s that  ‘April showers bring May flowers’!  Except for it’s not April, it’s February… and if you look all around, you’ll notice that the California wildflowers are starting to bloom!  Hooray!  Flowers and blooms are coming early this year, and I am SO excited to get out into those wildflower fields here in San Diego this spring!  Anyway, when 6 day old Natalie came to the studio for her newborn photoshoot in San Diego, I took a peek at my little ‘outdoor newborn photography‘ area just outside the studio doors and decided that it was time!  With some color from the wildflowers showing, it was time to start bringing my little ones outside, so we did!  We held sweet Natalie’s mini newborn session in nature, and I am looking forward to bringing more of my littlest wee-ones outside to take advantage of all of the color that’s out there right now.

So, a little about my outdoor newborn area… my photography studio was built onto the side of our home.  When we moved the studio from La Jolla to here, there was a little area of perfectly manicured lawn just in front, and I knew immediately that I wanted to turn that spot into a little forest-nature area for outdoor newborn photography.  So, I grabbed a giant shovel and started ripping up the lawn.  Once the lawn was destroyed, I picked out what I could of the grass blades and roots and sprinkled a plethora of wildflower seeds everywhere!  My vision was this: an area of wild weeds with rainbow colored flowers everywhere.  So I sprinkled the seeds, watered, and waited… and nothing.  The grass was growing back in patches, and the only weeds that were growing were the yucky, flower-less ones.  So I tried again.  Sprinkled a ton of different colored flower seeds, watered, and waited.  That’s when I realized that that beautiful sound of happy birds in the morning were actually birds in that area… eating all of the seeds.  No wonder nothing was growing!  The birds were eating all of the seeds!  So I tried again, and this time, let our Golden Retriever, Molly out there from time to time to ‘scare’ the birds away from the area.  Nope, didn’t work.  So I gave up.  My dream of multi-colored nature was a flop.  Winter came and things just turned gray.  I just let it go, and let whatever weeds take over, knowing that since my awesome plan was not working, I would need to do something to that spot to make it look good again (like before when it was a freshly manicured lawn…)  Then, the rain came.  And cute little white flowers appeared.  Now, months later, there is even more!  Pink, yellow, purple, white!  Hooray!  This San Diego rain has brought some awesome color and vibrancy to the spot I had almost given up on.  This session was held last week, and since then, there is even more color.  I am looking forward to heading outside more often, both with newborns and in the next couple of months, to our awesome wildflower fields in San Diego with families and my favorite – expecting parents for a maternity photoshoot in San Diego flowers!

Here are a few images from baby Natalie’s outdoor newborn photoshoot…

Oh PS:  Are you a newborn photographer and love the look of those curly layers I used in the pale pink and light brown toned images above?  I created a quick tutorial on YouTube just for you!  Here you go!. Watch this YouTube tutorial I created on how to make newborn curly layers for newborn props.