The first photos of celebrities’ kids can fetch big bucks from the tabloids.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s twins Knox Leon & Vivienne Marcheline garnered over $11 million, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s kids Max & Emme Muñiz were priced at $6 million, and someone was even willing to lay down a whopping $1 million for Britney Spears’ sister’s baby.  It’s not chump change. But instead of cashing in on Blue Ivy’s pic, Beyonce and Jay-Z have chosen to release the images themselves on a Tumblr called HelloBlueIvyCarter. The shots are adorable.

Tumblr, the popular micro-blogging site, could seem like an odd choice as the place to post but it’s a brilliant move.  Easy to set up, it allows the couple complete and total control over the images and gives the press what they want, which will hopefully result in less hounding of the couple.  They write:

"We welcome you to share in our joy.  Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives. -The Carter Family."