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I feel so blessed to meet so many wonderful beautiful families, and this one is no exception! So not only congratulations on the birth of your second gorgeous son, but also a special congratulations to Dad and the rest of the Baltimore Ravens on their three wins in a row! Baltimore couldn’t be any more proud of the team!
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This little girl was such a doll!
This year, everyone has been talking — Many of our cornfields in Northern Harford and Baltimore Counties have been replaced with sunflowers… beautiful!!! This is about 1 mile from my studio. Just a few snaps - as just when I was concentrating on getting these shots on the side of the road, some big white van sped by me and honked his horn - scaring me half to death!
A couple weeks ago, Dean and I did “The Otte Triathalon”. We took a day together, the kids were in school, and we did our own version of a triathalon. We started off dropping our kayaks in up in Wrightsville, PA on the Susquehanna River… (these were taken with my waterproof point and shoot camera).
Next, we stopped back at Muddy Creek Meadows, and got our horses, and headed out on a couple-mile trail. This is why I don’t like point and shoot cameras… riding horses, taking pictures with that horrible shutter lag, and this is what we get… so all the photos were pretty fuzzy…
but an aside… speaking of horses, we have a new one… This is Jet. I introduced Dean to him when we were coming back from the trail. He had no idea - I simply asked him what he would name a horse like that if it was his… he eventually got the hint and was a bit surprised! 
We’re still getting to know Jet. He’s supposed to be a quarterhorse, but since he came from auction, he’s very skinny and needs some fattening up. Hey, I guess he is the “official” black horse
After that, of course, the third part of the triathalon? Sushi at Umi Sake in Timonium!!!!
This busy adorable one we started in the studio, but quickly went out to burn off some energy
I want to address a concern that has started buzzing throughout the photography industry - Newborn Photography and Safety. As newborn photography has become widely popular, it seems that there is a lot of one-upping on new and amazing poses, positions, and props. For the past 5 years, I have been primarily a newborn photographer, and as I have grown and gained more and more experience on the subject, it has started to worry me about the perceptions of new photographers coming into the field. I feel that I must throw a disclaimer out there as I am unsure if those I am inspiring know what really takes place “behind the scenes”.
When I began to photograph newborns years ago, I thought I knew what I was doing. I mean, after all, I had two children, I’ve been there done that, right? No. That’s not how it works when you are photographing newborns. It is important while learning the best lighting techniques to use, to also re-learn babies altogether, but in a different way. First of all, every baby is different. While I may have an idea that I just must try during my next newborn session, it is of utmost importance to read a baby’s signals and not force it. Every baby will not do every pose/position, and you absolutely must not push them beyond their comfort and ESPECIALLY, their safety. A simple outstretched arm, a small on-the-belly frog-hop, or a tiny lean of the head, can send everything off balance. Safety is so very important, I cannot stress that enough.
I encourage all new photographers to put aside the complex setups and competition for the latest and greatest newborn craze, and instead, stick with simple SAFE setups, and take your time to truly learn what photographing newborns and connecting with them is all about. When anyone states newborn photography is easy, I can’t help but to cringe a little, as newborn photography can be very difficult.
Please also understand that what you see is not always what you get. While I will not show pullbacks and straight-out-of-camera shots of my setups (as to be completely honest, some things will be kept “trade secrets”), using the example of the “saddle shot”, mom was just out of frame to the left, and my assistant was on the right. I photoshopped my assistant’s hands out of the shot.
So this was weighing heavy on my heart, and I thought I would share my thoughts with you.
Before I show a few images from a recent newborn session, I also want to ask, if anyone reading this sees any of my images in strange ads (excluding the Similac Infant Formula ads - those should be there! ;)) that you have a feeling should not be there, please contact me at jodieotte@verizon.net One of my very well-known images was recently stolen and used illegally in an ad. I am currently dealing with this issue right now. I want to thank my clients and fellow photographers for giving me that head’s up! You guys are great!
Happy boy and his mom and dad. This is the second time I have photographed this little guy and it was a pleasure! The first time, he was only a week or two old. There is a picture of him in my portrait website galleries as a baby, and I am sure you can pick out which one he is. He still looks like his baby pictures! 
I noticed beautiful pink tones coming through my front windows last night, just as Dean told me to look outside, the sky is beautiful. He was right - directly in front of my house above the cornfields, the sun was setting. Such a beautiful night led to such an ugly rainy morning…
I feel like I am constantly apologizing for not keeping up with my blog. Between getting my 5th and 8th graders back to school between photo shoots and squeezing out the last bit of summer family stuff, the blog is what had to suffer - but I should be back to blogging regularly here shortly. I just got out of Jury Duty today, add that to the pile and am getting ready to answer phone calls. In the meantime, this is five months in the making. I shared our little chicken journey (although I don’t remember posting pictures of the second batch of chicks… hmmm… no, I don’t believe I did… at any rate, we now have 13 hens and one rooster) So five months in the making, the first egg was found last week…
Well, it all went crazy since then - no, it’s not Easter, these are really the rainbow of eggs that we’re finding daily! And to answer the question - yes, the green/blue eggs are totally edible, in fact, they are supposedly better for you than any of the others! Truly, we can now have Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast!
