There’s a lot you’d probably like to forget about this year, mainly your downsized financial accounts. But while your 401(k) will eventually come back, your children’s precious first years won’t. What better way to celebrate these precious moments than preserving them in pictures. See if one of these local photographers fits the bill.
Marie Papp: You can’t help but fall in love with the kids in her photographs. Many children’s photographers claim to be able to capture the spirit of a child, but Papp delivers. Her tiny subjects shine and come alive with an almost three-dimensional quality. Like the wedding photos she’s known for, Papp’s children’s pics are pure art.
Kristina Hill: Maybe it’s the rappers she photographs, but Hill knows how to keep it real. Whether it’s portraits or party pictures, Hill’s pint-sized subjects come out so crisp and clear, you feel as if they’re going to jump off the page. Online proofing available.
Jennifer Loomis: Your go-to photographer for pregnant nudes. Loomis, just out with her book Portraits of Pregnancy: The Birth of a Mother, has shot more than 1700 women over the past 15 years and continues to give new meaning to the phrase “tummy time.” Even Annie Leibovitz’s studio (Remember the famous Vanity Fair cover shot of a naked Demi?) referred work to Loomis.
AliKat Photo: Whether it’s their team’s experience shooting in the entertainment industry (”The Celebrity Apprentice” and “The Biggest Loser”), photographing swanky weddings or enduring motherhood, Ali Goldstein and Kathleen Cain know how to capture “the fleeting magic of childhood.” Just check out their work featuring parents and children in tender, unposed moments or AliKat’s tastefully shot pregnancy pics.
Belle Batraville: Batraville does a lot of her work in Riverdale but also shoots throughout Manhattan, as well as the Hamptons and Jersey. Her black and white photos are clean, modern and particularly expressive. Batraville is also adept at making colors really pop without overshadowing or dulling her small subjects’ star power. Maternity/Newborn and other special packages are available.
Danielle Shugar: Her delicious close-ups of kids are as sweet as sugar (hence the name of her business, Sweet as Shugar Photography). With casual photo sessions sans heavy lighting, Shugar seems to effortlessly capture an old-fashioned and uncontrived innocence in her Sugar Babies (infants) and Sweet Tarts (toddlers, etc). She also offers custom-designed announcements, holiday cards and complimentary wall-gallery design services.
Heather Phelps-Lipton: With her fine art style and photojournalistic bent, Phelps-Lipton showcases all the parts of babies we love best: the wrinkly behind, the tiny feet, the chunky thighs and bewildered eyes. What make her pictures particularly intriguing are the angles from which they are shot — creative but not over-the-top. The Brooklyn-based Phelps-Lipton shoots in her Red Hook studio as well as on location.
Carolyn Fong: Though this Brooklyn photographer started out doing editorial and commercial work, she eventually realized she had a penchant for baby and family portraits after her friends started requesting her services. Fong prefers to work in natural settings (parks, a client’s home) and refrains from giving little ones too much direction. An online Web gallery is available within two weeks of the photo session.
For a full list of NYC children’s photographers, visit urbanbaby.com.