SAM'S WEEKLY PHOTO PROJECT

Unless Baby P surprises us with an early arrival, today marks two-months-out from his scheduled debut via c-section.  I've been dreaming and scheming up some plans for his weekly photo project and realized that I hadn't ever shared Sam's weekly photos on the blog.  

For the first year of Sam's life, we had weekly photo shoots at our house.  52 in all.  Sam was born on a Monday and I would guestimate that 90% of his weekly photos were taken on Mondays.  That was always my goal, but I didn't stress too much if the photos were taken on Sundays or Tuesdays, instead.  (The perfect is the enemy of the good, right?)

Our general procedure and set up looked something like this: Sam on the bed, white duvet cover, white onesie, me standing on a dining room chair, at the foot of the bed, trying to coerce him into looking at the camera.  

For the first several weeks, I switched him to disposable diapers before his photo shoot because I was really aiming for a white-on-white look.  After a while, I appreciated one less preparatory step and just left him in his cloth dipes.  I am really glad that change happened because I love all the bright pops of color peeking out from his white onesies.  

This project start off quite simply and definitely grew more difficult as Sam grew and became mobile.  But we persevered and, in the end, some of the unplanned "poses" just added to the sweetness of the project.  This one is from week 40:

My biggest frustration was the inconsistency of light from week to week.  In case you didn't realize this, lighting changes throughout the course of the year.  Duh.  I didn't really think that through before I started the project and it drove me batty.  I think that a different background or clothing choice (not all white) would have helped to minimize the impact of the changing light. 

Despite a few difficulties, I am so happy that I stuck with this project for Sam's entire first year.  Once he turned one, I planned to take monthly photos of Sam.  That didn't happen.  The weekly routine worked for us, but trying to remember to take a photo on (or close to) the 20th of each month proved to be my nemesis.  Oh well. 

With the new little guy well on his way, I am making plans for a new weekly photo project.  I will change things up a bit with the photo set-up, but haven't finalized anything as of yet.  I am sure the logistics will be a new beast as I deal with a different baby and a "helpful" toddler.  I anticipate some fun times and can't wait to see how it goes.