My name is Kathryn Beckwith, often known as Kat City, and somehow, I have been given control over the Bluefly Lens blog. I'm not a photographer, nor do I know much about photography, so this might not have been Nina and Alicia's best idea. But lucky for them, I don't mind learning about new things and I can tell one heck of a story. So, here I am, telling their story, in my words, based on what I see; it's so crazy it just might work.
Today was the first photo shoot I got to sit in on and it was a newborn shoot of baby Ryan and his mom, Kristina. N+A did my little boo's newborn pictures a few months back so I kinda knew how the shoot would go, though, I didn't exactly know what I was looking for in terms of a blog post. We had only discussed the blog once and I wasn't given a ton of direction. The girls said they wanted to hear "my voice". So, I went to the shoot with an open ear and an open eye, looking for anything that would spark my attention.
After a couple knocks and a doorbell ring, and yet still no answer, I was starting to think they decided they didn't want me to do the blog anymore but didn't have the heart to tell me. I imagined them inside, in front of their client, playing Rock, Paper, Scissors; loser has to tell me to scram. When Alicia finally got to the door she apologized for not hearing my knocks and instructed me to "follow the sound of the blow dryer to the bedroom". Weird, but ok? I walked in to the bedroom where I first noticed Kristina sitting in a really dope rocking chair, holding a blow dryer. (Before I continue, I just want to point out that I just described a rocking chair as "dope". With my 30th birthday just two weeks away, I think I can kiss my 20's goodbye with that last statement. Even worse, I was actually excited to hear the rocking chair is from Pottery Barn. I'm in the process of decorating my new house, so this information may come in handy and, at the risk of sounding even older, Pottery Barn is just the best).
It took a minute before I noticed the tiny baby in the crib to the left of me. We chatted for a couple of minutes before she mentioned the need for the blow dryer. "It's the only noise that calms the baby". She was right. He was totally cool until the dryer turned off. After that, he let a few little baby cries- the kind that remind me of angels dying. My least favorite sound because it's purely HEARTBREAKING. But even through his cries, I noticed baby Ryan was CUTE. A lot of newborns are weird and scary looking. This boy was not. It made me really happy for Kristina.
The most noteworthy part of the day, though, was that it was the first time I noticed how weirdly in sync Nina and Alicia are. I graduated high school with both of them and I can't think of two less similar humans. I've also used them as photographers but I guess I never watched them too closely cause I was probably more worried they weren't taking me seriously when I reminded them to only get my "good side". But today I saw them in action. They worked through the noise of the blow dryer. Alicia stood on a chair taking pictures. Nina moved furniture around. They both swaddled the baby with a blanket. They talked about lighting and clothing changes. They had their moves down, seamlessly working with one another. They were comfortable in their work together and it blatantly made their client comfortable. The way they stepped around each other was like a 90's rap duo on stage. Salt n' Peppa. Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Maybe more appropriately, The Ying Yang Twins?
All and all, dope first day on the job. Nothing better than being apart of creativity, in any capacity. Looking forward to watching, observing and experiencing these two Ying Yang Twins do their thing again soon!
KC
