Held up to the light
I photographed this baptism in Auburn in October 2026. It begins inside the church at a stone font and ends outdoors under tall trees with the sun low behind them.
At the font, a woman in a green dress holds the baby with the baby’s head tipped back over the stone while the priest pours water from a gold shell. Family stand close behind her, one of them holding a printed program. After that the priest lifts the baby up in front of the tall windows, smiling, with the rite book and a folded white cloth left on the edge of the font.
The parents stand with the baby on the brick steps below the altar, between two white angel statues and a green curtain. The mother holds a white candle with a cross on it.
Outside, the father holds the baby among seven women, several of them in wide-brimmed hats, one bright orange. Then it is just the three of them under a tree with the sun coming through its yellow leaves. The parents kiss over the baby, who is wrapped in white fur and a knit hat. In the last frame, seen from behind, the father lifts the baby up toward the branches while the mother keeps an arm around him.
