Lifestyle portraits: Newborn session in a New York City apartment

Suddenly my phone was lighting up with texts from the airline saying my flights the next day were likely to be canceled due to a winter storm and I should change my travel dates. There was no room for error with this trip; I had sandwiched it between two other cross-country trips and had planned to be gone just 12 hours total to get home to my own nursing baby. And now a winter storm threatened to derail the whole thing. I had to get to New York City to photograph the newborn son of my best friend, Rachel!

So I scrambled and pushed the flights back by a day. And when that day arrived, the storm had passed and the sky was a bright, brilliant blue—perfect for a natural light session. I hopped a sunrise flight up the coast, made it to the apartment by mid-morning, did the session, grabbed lunch, took a short stroll in Central Park and was on the ground in Chapel Hill by early evening. Despite the weather hiccup, it couldn't have gone more smoothly.

One of the best parts of being a newborn photographer is having the honor of witnessing some of the earliest moments of a baby's life. Of course I would have made a trip up to meet Max anyway, though it probably wouldn't have been when he was just a few days old. And getting to catch a glimpse of some of Rachel and Ben's first moments of parenthood—the joy and love and fear and everything else that goes along with this humbling transformation? Well, let's just say there were some tears on my flight home.

Above and below: Front and back of birth announcement

Below: More black and white favorites from Max's session.

To view more newborn and maternity lifestyle portraits, click here.