Adventures in copycatting - Montreal's South Shore newborn photographer

I was recently approached by a sweet set of parent expecting their third child. They wanted me to photograph they're newborn, but had a special request.

A pretty intimidating request, actually.

Their first 2 babies had been photographed by Leino from Esto Image. Once located in Saint-Lambert, here on the South Shore, he has recently picked up and moved to Milton, Ontario. (Something about falling in love...*awe*) So gracious and respectful of my individual style, this couple was. But they did want a handful of shots that resembled what Leino had accomplished with their first two.

Here's where the intimidating part comes in. Leino is a master at his craft. He's photographed thousands of newborns, and his style is so completely signature to him. Not to mention he works in studio and has a particular lighting technique, while I use natural light. Etc, etc...  Have a look at his blog.

I agreed to take on the challenge, of course. But I made it clear that I'd have to work in such a way as to honour my own style and not try too hard to copy Leino's work at the risk of stunting my creativity. And here's what we came up with...

More from this session a little later.