What's better than a smiling baby? A baby that coos, smiles, laughs, and is adorable for two hours straight, that's what!

On a perfect Saturday in July, I set all my gear out and plopped on the ground to take pictures of a highly agreeable ten month old. She didn't mind changing her clothes four times, she didn't mind her mother and father jingling toys at her the entire time, she danced to the baby music when we played it, and she didn't try to eat the grass outside. What more can you ask for?

Well for one thing, you can ask for a cheery baby that crawls towards you and thinks the flash going off in her face is hilarious!

Some babies are not so thrilled when a stranger shows up and points a loud clicking weird thing in their face that doesn't look like their mom's camera. With a big lens on it, my camera doesn't look like what an average camera does.

I was using my 28-70mm f/2.8L lens with a great big hood on it, and a Gary Fong puffer on my flash. Therefore, it looks weird, and it's heavy.

I was completely flat on the floor, and I had two small bowl type lamps with diffusers on them so as not to nuke out the lights. I deliberately backlit the photo and cranked my two diffused lights up all the way.

For variety of location, I took one of her fuzzy blankets and tucked it up next to the window. We opened the main shades, leaving the filmy ones, and gave her a fat pillow to bang on.

The result was pretty funny. Mostly, she was laughing, but she would put her hands in front of her face. Then at one point - voila - she clapped her hands a few times, put them next to her cheek, and did what I call "the angel pose." Seriously? That's cute!

Of course, babies are notorious for causing problems. This little girl didn't, actually... no crying, no fussing, generally looking at me or one of her parents (her dad, apparently, does great 'faces' and she kept yelling da-da at him).

But of course, there is the usual "trying to escape"... the"looking INTO the cookie container"...  and "staring at the flower instead of beaming a smile"shots.....

The weather outside was PERFECT. A nice, slightly overcast day, and she was happy as a clam to plop on the blanket and stare at us. I got nifty grass stains on my jeans but I don't really care, since the outside shots were definitely my favorite!

Overall, I took four hundred and forty photos in about two hours. I deleted a few for blurriness, movement, or eyes closed, and ended up with 416 that I poked through to pick out these as the best ones. At least, these are MY favorites!  Personally, this last one looks like one that I'd blow up to 20x30 and hang on the wall :)