Tom Arma Baby Costumes

In the world of photography, baby photography in particular, Tom Arma is a legend. It has been said by the New York Times, "If it's a baby photo, he probably took it." Not only is Tom known within the photography realm for his work, but he has successfully crossed over into the world of design-- animal costumes for babies, in particular!

In this lens, we'll share with our readers the background of Tom--where it all started. We'll then share with you how Tom was able to make a living doing what he loves--photographing babies. In addition, we'll tell you how Tom was able to branch out from photography, into design. And finally, once you'd learned all about the designer and photographer, Tom Arma, we'll let you in a little secret--where you can purchase one of his baby animal costumes for your little one!

A Brief Biography on Tom Arma:

Tom began his career as the youngest staff photographer for The New York Daily News. For many years he photographed national events, such as Woodstock and political stories (Watergate), and local events happening in and around NYC.

After excelling in this aspect of photography (hard hitting news stories), Tom requested to be moved to the magazine portion of the paper. Here he was able to use more color photography and gain experience photographing the cinema stars of the day in his Beverly Hills location.

Even though Tom had more freedom at that point to photograph a wider range of subject, he was still in the world of journalistic photography--still had deadlines, bosses, and assignments. So, in the early 70's, Tom decided to give it a go on his own. He opened his own studio and sold his photography to magazines and advertising firms.

He was successful in his new self-employed endeavor, and because of his success, Tom was able to narrow down his photogrpahic subject matter to exactly what it was he wanted to photograph--babies!

The Toddler Years...

After several years of deadlines and not a lot of choice in what to photograph, Tom began snapping pics of babies in 1972 after opening his own studio. Like many people who have done the same work for a long time, Tom was bored with his subject matter, and when given the chance to photograph babies, he felt a breath of fresh air breathed into him!

He enjoyed capturing their youth and innocence. Babies are too young to have learned any hard lessons in life. For the most part, as long as they're their bellies are full and their bottoms are dry, they're pretty happy! Tom was rejuvenated by these children and quickly made photographing babies his specialty.

Soon Tom was recognized as "The most published baby photographer in the world." -NY Times

By the 80's Tom was photographing babies in animal costumes for magazine covers such as Ladies Home Journal. Because he had strong convictions regarding animal and ecological concerns, he began his series Please Save the Animals. This was a way for Tom to combine the sweet innocence of children with the endangerment of animals and their ecosystems. If pictures of baby animals weren't enough to tug on your heart-strings, pictures of babies dressed in cute animal costumes probably did the trick! Check out another cool Tom Arma lens.

And thus, with Tom's Please Save the Animals series, he officially branched out from just photography, to design, and beyond.

Growing up:

Now, I'm not saying that Tom sat at his sewing machine, late into the night, designing and creating animal costumes for babies. He did, however, come up with unique designs for numerous different animal costumes and had them constructed for babies to wear during photo shoots.

The resulting photographs were made into posters, greeting cards, calendars, and eventually books! To date, Tom has over 47 published books and dozens of calendars on baby photography. All of his baby photography carries the theme of eco-consciousness and wildlife preservation.

Having success with his babies in animal costumes, Tom began offering the costumes themselves to the public. He started the Tom Arma Signature Collection and has kept it a family owned and operated business for over 2 decades now. The costumes have become extremely popular and are now available to anyone--and they're reasonably priced!

Included with each animal costume is an insert on that particular animal's "Critter Facts", provided by the National Wildlife Federation.

Tom Arma baby animal costume are sold exclusively through Halloween Express.