Rachel Sarah Thurston portrait, events, travel and wedding photography and travel/lifestyle writing

August 8th, 2010

Baby Photo Shoot With Erin, Javier, and Mateo
Santa Barbara, California

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.
~Woody Allen

I first met Erin and Javier through a mutual friend and we hit it off immediately. Turns out Erin is a Hoosier--born and raised--just like me and Javier is an Argentinean...so what's not to love? Mateo is growing up bilingual in a super loving, joyful home and has Queso as an energetic, playful canine playmate.

We had such a blast doing this shoot together that we toasted to it at the end of the afternoon!
Mateo, like his parents, is a super mellow, happy kid who has infinite patience and smiles when large cameras are being pointed at him and grown-ups are making funny faces and noises with every possible type of of rattle and stuffed animals. Sometimes I wish had a photographer documenting the interactions between me and the parents when we're trying to elicit sweet responses from babies....it's probably one of the most entertaining behind-the-scenes moments of baby shoots.

As the shoot went on and little Mateo became more and more tired of our grown-up tricks, we got goofier and more creative...using bottles of tequila, bottles of vitamins, and stuffed gorillas to entertain him. I still wish I had a recording of Erin, Javier, and me all trying to make our best monkey and cat calls~

And I was especially stoked to discover one of Erin and Javier's favorite songs by John Lennon that really speaks to their journey with Mateo....Here it is. Enjoy!