Newborn Photos At New Baby Expo
New Baby Expo May 17 and 18 at Blaisdell Center offers 100-plus vendors, including photography | Photo from Aloha Island Baby Photography
Choose your battles, right?
My daughter refused to wear aloha attire for her May Day luau. She had her heart set on her Halloween costume, Wonder Woman.
Well, OK, I figured. Why discourage originality? Plus, I didn’t have the heart to crush her superhero moment. OK, I didn’t have the energy to negotiate with her.
So picture this: a chance to capture precious moments of your child in cute costumes, surrounded by props, with no fuss. It’s a labor of love for acclaimed newborn baby photographer Darla Smith.
She’s the woman behind the lens for Aloha Island Baby Photography. She started the company with her husband Todd six years ago.
Their business was born in 2008 after their daughter’s premature arrival and 21-day stay in the NICU. They assumed they had missed out on the opportunity for newborn photos. Darla says, “We never captured this style of photos with our own children, and it has been a daily reminder of just how important it is to document these moments for other families so they don’t miss out in the same way.”
Smith says the greatest reward is the reaction, “the joy these images bring, especially from those who have been trying for years to conceive.”
The most challenging part? Scheduling, naturally. Newborns are notorious for arriving on their own timeline. The ideal photography window is between six and 10 days.
To date, they have photographed more than 600 newborns, including 34 sets of multiples. The photo shoots typically take less than an hour. The session fee is $150, and packages start at $350. You get the images back one week later for birth announcements.
But it turns out proud parents aren’t the only ones who get a kick out of the adorable little ones. The beautiful babies also are featured in a book titled Blessings: Sleeping Newborns of Hawaii, and a calendar called “Tiny Treasures,” sold at stores including Walmart and Kmart. I dare you to look at a sleeping bumblebee or sunbathing twins and not smile.
You can see for yourself at the New Baby Expo coming up May 17 and 18 at Neal Blaisdell Center. Aloha Island Baby Photography will make its ninth appearance. Check them out at Booth No. 430.
The event is billed as Hawaii’s largest prenatal to preschool expo. Up to 20,000 people are expected to check out the 150-plus vendors and special attractions, including story time with a “Frozen Queen.”
No word if Wonder Woman will be there.
17th Annual New Baby Expo, Neal Blaisdell Center, May 17 and 18, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. General admission $5.50, free for children 5 and under; $1 off coupon is available at the website newbabyexpo.com. facebook.com/newbabyexpo.com.
Aloha Island Baby Photography, 808baby.com, 341-2219
tjoaquin@hawaiinewsnow.com
