How To Photograph

a Baby in a Mailbox

I don’t have access to a giant cocoon or ginormous flowers or pterodactyl-sized butterfly wings… these are only a handful of things that me and Anne Geddes do not have in common.

I do however have a mailbox.  It sits on the east side of my house and is framed by a large tree, very scenic this time of year.

I enlisted my wife to take baby Sawyer outside for a quick snapshot and after coming back inside I realized a quick snapshot wasn’t going to do.  I had to bring out the big lights… which meant we were going to cause a bit of a ruckus, which meant our neighbors might look out the window to ascertain the situation and it wouldn’t take much imagination for people to assume the Garns were outside, in the middle of the afternoon, drunk off their rockers.

So we had to move quickly, and quietly.  I brought out a large softbox with a single Elinchrom Style 600 RX strobe to provide some fill light, and pearl reflector to bounce a bit of the flash back in the deep shadows from the afternoon sun… after all, the early morning or late night sun would be a little too chilly this time of year and it would take some really irresponsible parents to take a newborn outside under those circumstances.

We bundled baby Sawyer up in a pile of blankets and my lovely, giggling wife was responsible for gingerly placing him inside the mailbox (notice I did not use the word stuffing or shoving).  She was also in charge of holding him gently underneath his head.

In fact, the whole process was a little too gentle, most images were of him sleeping peacefully, but that just wouldn’t do… luckily upon removing him, or adjusting him (notice I did not use the word poking him with a stick) he got just a tad bit ornery and made the perfect “get me out of here” face.

Ahhh, poor kid.  You’ll thank me later though.

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