Rashaad | NICU Portraits | Charlotte, North Carolina Newborn Photographer

Rashaad was born at 31 weeks 5 days and weighed 4 lbs 4 oz. His health concerns were first identified at the time of his Mom’s anatomy scan. He was diagnosed with an omphalocele, and there were concerns that he might also have a clubfoot. Mom decided to continue her pregnancy with some additional testing. The good news is that additional testing revealed no further concerns!

Unfortunately, that would not be the end of the excitement for this pregnancy. Around 31 weeks, Mom’s water broke unexpectedly during her sleep. After being admitted to the hospital, the plan was to keep baby in for another few weeks by sticking to bed rest. Just a few days later Mom came down with a fever and Rashaad’s heart rate began running higher than normal, so the decision was made for him to make his appearance! He was able to have his omphalocele procedure completed a few days after birth.

I met Rashaad and his family about 2 weeks after he was born. By that time he was already healing well from his omphalocele procedure and had been able to start feeds. He was already starting to gain weight! You can see that he was pretty happy about that. 😁 It was nice to meet you Rashaad!

What to Do This Summer with Kids! | Charlotte, North Carolina

A big part of owning a small business is planning your work around family time. As we count down to TEN years of Krista Gantt Photography, it bears mentioning that my favorite subject recently turned 5. 😭 So, if you’re wondering what to do with these last few weeks of summer with your kids… here are a few activities Evan and I have enjoyed!

Visit your local library. Imaginon is a fun and free library experience in uptown Charlotte! They also offer summer camps that your child will love.

Cool off at a splash pad. Stallings Municipal Park and Crooked Creek Park in Indian Trail are two great options! Just pay attention to their hours, as each location closes one day per week for maintenance.

Visit a local farm. There are so many options, but Bush-N-Vine Farm in York, SC has been one of our long-time favorites! I’ve offered mini sessions there in previous years, and we’re planning for more soon. 😉

Get to crafting! Noah’s Art has several locations in south Charlotte and Fort Mill. I think Evan could craft all day long, so this is the perfect activity to satisfy his artistic side.

Playland (Indian Trail). This is one of our stand-bys. If Evan needs to get out of the house, and I also need to get work done, this is the perfect place to get the wiggles out! Their cafe now has expanded food options and coffee for me. 🙌

Get more wiggles out at the gym! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve met a friend for the open gym time at Charlotte Allstar Gymnastics & Cheerleading.

Need more ideas? @houseofhenson is the perfect Instagram account to follow for ALL of the kids’ activity options around Charlotte!

And if you’re looking for help capturing photos of your kids enjoying their summer, here are a few tips on how to take better photos!

1. Get on their level. This creates a much more interesting viewpoint and highlights all of their precious details.

2. Pay attention to the light. Is it coming from behind them or from in front? Typically, you’ll want to have the light coming from in front of the child to illuminate their face, which is the subject of the photo. You could certainly try backlighting or a silhouette if you want to get creative.

3. Adjust the brightness. This one edit on your final image can make your photos look so much more professional! It’s best to try to get it right in person, but if you can’t, there’s always the brightness slider.

I hope you all enjoy your last few weeks of summer!

Thank You For Your Referrals! | Charlotte, North Carolina Newborn Photographer

I can’t thank you enough for how your referrals have allowed my tiny business to thrive for almost 10 years now! I am so thankful for the ways my business has continued to grow since it’s humble beginnings in 2013, and so much of that is thanks to you. Please continue sharing my name - it helps so much!

There’s no better complement to your photographer than a referral! This is one of the biggest ways that my business grows, through referrals from previous clients. It’s not even that difficult for you to do! You can simply tag @kristaganttphotography when you post your photos on Instagram or Facebook. Voila! Anyone who sees your photo will be able to see who your photographer was. If you do want to sing my praises from the rooftop, I won’t say no to that either. 😆 Your Google reviews make a big impact and are always appreciated.

Meet Locke! I had the pleasure of photographing him after I took his cousin Isaac’s Fresh 48 photos, newborn photos, and a few milestone sessions too. You might have seen Isaac recently in my blog post about Fresh 48 photos!

Locke was such a handsome subject with his beautiful dark hair. 😍 He was about 10 days old (in that perfect sleepy window that we always shoot for) and cooperated so nicely for his session.

Jazlynn & Ja’ziyah | Twins | NICU Portraits | Charlotte, North Carolina Photographer

The mom of twins Jazlynn and Ja’ziyah calls them true miracles! Her baby girls were born at 30 weeks 3 days and weighed 2 lbs 15 oz each.

Their dad is a veteran of Desert Storm and faced a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2008. At the time, they had two daughters, but they were able to add a son to their family before Dad underwent cancer treatment. He was told that he would be unable to conceive after receiving cancer treatment, which was a huge disappointment for their family. But, that’s obviously not the end of their story. In fact, Mom went on to deliver two more children before the twins were born late last year!

Requesting NICU Portraits | Killian | Charlotte, North Carolina Newborn Photographer

Have you ever wondered how you can request NICU portraits for your baby in a Charlotte, North Carolina NICU? You can read all about NICU portraits here. And, if you have a baby in a NICU here in Charlotte, you can submit a request for a NICU portrait session at any time.

After you submit an inquiry, here’s how it works:

• If booking is not yet open, you’ll get an acknowledgement email with more information about NICU portraits and a promise that I’ll reach out as soon as booking does open. You’ll get priority notification.

• If booking is open (or once it does for the people that emailed previously), you get an email with a link to schedule.

• Click the link in the email to schedule your appointment for the pre-appointed date. Appointments are usually open for one Thursday morning per month at each NICU location, but this sometimes varies.

• After you book a time slot, you’ll be sent a consent that needs to be signed prior to our appointment. Once both of us have signed it, you’ll receive a final copy.

• You will be sent a reminder email about your appointment 24 hours before our scheduled session.

• Don’t forget to show up about 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time!

Welcome to the blog Killian! At Mom’s anatomy scan, it was immediately clear that Killian would have some health concerns. He was found to have only one kidney. Not only that, but after his birth he faced several surgeries to help improve the function of his kidney.

I photographed him just before his original due date, and he was still facing several additional weeks of recovery time before it was anticipated that he would be able to go home.

It was lovely to meet you Killian!