Newborn photos capture precious early moments

Photographer Valerie McIntyre has teamed up with Kelli McMahon-Staats, manager of Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s birthing center, to present new mothers the gift that lasts a lifetime: professional photos of their newborn babies.

Corridors leading to and through the center form a gallery of McIntyre’s creative photographs printed on canvas to look like fine paintings. One features a baby posed next to boots and under a cowboy hat; another infant lies cradled in an elk rack. A more feminine photo poses a tiny girl snoozing in a flower headband and net tutu.

These “ahhh”-provoking photos present a stark change from the snap and dash days when OB nurses shouldered photographer responsibilities and then sent the negatives to a now-bankrupt company.

“This is wonderful compared to the last newborn pictures we did,” McMahon-Staats said with a laugh. “We have a lot of nursing skills but not photography skills.”

When the old company folded, McMahon-Staats followed up on her idea of bringing in a professional photographer. She contacted a few, including McIntyre, who had taken school photos of her son through her 20-acre property in Columbia Falls, which serves as her outdoor/indoor studio.

“I contacted her, and I think she was more excited than me,” McMahon-Staats said. “She had envisioned this for quite a while, so, just with us working together, the program has grown a lot.”

Because she loves photographing babies, McIntyre provides each parent with the session, a 4- by 6-inch print and a Web posting of their photographs for free.

If the parent orders pictures or other products, the money goes to McIntyre, and she reinvests it in the gallery photos and other expenses.

She earns her living through Valerie McIntyre Photography, a business specializing in high school portraits and other photography.

“Most people don’t know this is a community service,” she said. “I love this place because the nurses treat me great. I feel welcome, and I feel at home.”  

Since January 2011, McIntyre and her assistant Vivian Goodnight have transformed the light-filled family room of the birthing center into a photography studio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. From 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., the photographers capture the precious first hours of latest arrivals at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

“Some of them are just hours old and their hair is still wet,” McIntyre said. “We don’t blow it dry.”

Other babies, like Avery Lacy, have their sessions a day or two after arrival when they return for a checkup. Avery’s parents, Jeremy and Amanda, chose the white mailbox with a red flag to hold their precious package, bedecked with a flower headband for her first professional photo op.

Avery reposed on a sterilized towel, half inside a mailbox placed on a mat that looked like a pseudo-antique wood floor. A serene recording of a beating heart encouraged the infant to relax and recall the cozy warmth of the womb.

The photographer then offered Avery’s parents a selection of signs, including “Special Delivery,” “It’s a girl” and “Gift from God” to post on the mailbox.

“I like “Gift from God,” Jeremy said.

With Amanda in agreement, McIntyre affixed the sign, and then knelt down and began rubbing Avery’s forehead in a circular motion while gently speaking to her. Amanda popped a pacifier in the baby’s mouth as McIntyre grabbed her Canon D4 camera and lay on the floor to encourage the baby to look at her.

“Her eyes are open, so let’s pull the pacifier and exit stage left,” McIntyre told Amanda as she started clicking and exclaiming. “Oh my gosh, that’s so cute. She’s perfect! That’s wonderful.”

Next, McIntyre posed the newborn on a towel on a quaint scale for a few more shots. The session ended with Jeremy and Amanda viewing the photographs on a large television screen to chose their favorite for their free print, the hospital’s Web page and the newspaper layout.

McIntyre’s nearly 40 years of experience shone through as she expertly wrapped up the session and sterilized the equipment in time for the second of six babies scheduled last Wednesday. Hours of studio work remained ahead to make the day’s babies as perfect as their parents saw them.

“We soften their skin, reduce scratches — sometimes they’re bruised or have black eyes from the birth,” McIntyre said. “That all takes time.”

The final cuddly images of pure innocence warm the hearts of hospital gallery visitors and family alike in a pictorial salute to motherhood. McMahon-Staats recalled the day she heard two older ladies in a restaurant raving about the monthly baby photos in the newspaper.

“That made me feel reassured that we were doing a good job,” she said. “What’s also neat about this program is it’s so well known that other organizations are copying it. We have people donating money for parents who can’t afford pictures.”

Only babies born at Kalispell Regional Medical Center qualify for the free session. Others interested in McIntyre’s services may contact her at 755-2999 or visit her website, www.valeriemcintyre.com.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.