This October I will be entering my 9th year of photographing newborn babies full-time. Wow! I just cannot believe almost an entire decade has gone by since I left my past career behind and started living my dream of photographing babies and families.
Thank you to all the families who choose me to photograph these tender moments of when their baby is just born.
I am noticing lately that everyone seems to be in such a hurry everywhere they go. My newborn sessions are never rushed. Part of the art form of my work comes from taking my time to connect with your baby and family. Each tiny babe is different and has their own unique needs and personality.
We spend 3 to 5 hours together each and every newborn session. Usually we spend closer to 5 hours to allow for whatever time your baby needs for feedings and comforting.
It is helpful if you give your baby a bath about an hour or so before leaving for your newborn session. This helps baby to spend a little time being awake before spending hours sleeping for their newborn session. Baby lotion after bath time helps helps smooth away some of those baby flakes.
Feeding baby before getting in the car to drive to your session also assists in a successful newborn session. Most babies love being in the car once the car starts moving. The movement of the vehicle usually lulls baby to sleep.
Dressing baby in a sleeper with a front zipper with no undershirt underneath is also recommended. This helps to not wake baby up while they are being undressed.
Following the three suggestions above saves us about one hour of time and allows us to start right away when you arrive. By saving time, this means more time can be used for extra newborn poses. I can usually work with a newborn that arrives following the preparation suggestions for 2 to 3 hours without baby waking.
When inquiring about a newborn session, we usually spend at least 30 minutes to one hour on the phone talking about what goes into a newborn session. You have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
Parents and other children are always welcome to be part of your newborn session. This takes extra time, usually an additional one to three hours on a separate day within one week from your newborn session.
When your baby first arrives, Mom sometimes does not feel up to having her pictures taken. Usually, we have a lot of swelling right after giving birth. By the second week, the swelling has usually subsided and we feel a lot better! If we feel better, our pictures will look better.
If you wish to visit my studio prior to booking a session, you are always welcome to do so. You will find my studio space is about 1250 square feet, open concept with lots of windows and nice and bright. There is a washroom and two hand washing stations.
It is always a good idea to view a full newborn session from beginning to end prior to booking. This gives you an excellent idea of how sessions ensue and how many set-ups are able to be captured during a session.
Most of my clients always want images of mom and dad together with baby to be included in their portrait session. If clients have other children, they always want beautiful imagery of their older children with their new baby. We take our time for these images to be captured. Sometimes older children can be shy and they need time to warm up before they have their pictures taken. When you first walk in the studio with your children, I will spend time taking to mom and dad so your older children can see us interacting. There are toys, books and colouring books available for your children to play with. Always I spend time with your newborn first setting up the pose for the sibling set-up. This gives you an additional set-up of baby; however, it also gives your other children some time to see me holding their baby brother and sister.
My favourite sibling pose is of a child with their arms wrapped around their new baby brother or sister. Usually children will need to be about 3 years to sit still long enough to capture this image. Every child is different and I have photographed 18 month old children who have enough patience for this pose with a newborn. Mom and Dad are always close by. In fact, they are usually so close by that their arms and legs or entire body is removed from the image in the post processing process. This ensures baby’s safety as there is always someone right there if your older child moves quickly.
If this pose doesn’t work for your older child, we modify the setup. My second favourite sibling set-up is of baby posed on a prop on his or her tummy low to the floor with mom or dad right beside. Older brother or sister will almost always come up to give their new baby sister or brother a kiss on top of their head or sit next to baby.
I have a few tricks up my sleeve while photographing your children. I’m not afraid to look silly in front of the children. I have stuck rubber duckies on my face, made bird noises, smacked my lips, played counting games, what does this animal say and more.
Moms and dads also always love a picture of baby in dad’s arms. We try to capture this pose each and every newborn session.
My sessions are never rushed and that is just how I am as a photographer. Repeat clients love this about me and it is why they have returned with their second and third children. I am unable to “squeeze” in one or two family pictures. It doesn’t take 5 minutes to accomplish this it takes at least one hour or longer. I am not the right photographer for people who are in a hurry.
I also take great pride in images that are perfect and a lot of time goes into making things beautiful.
I have been doing this job for nearly a decade with 900 newborns now photographed. I have seen so many babies over the last 9 years and I have learned so much from the babies and families who visit the studio.
I look forward to reaching 1000 newborns being photographed in the following year and seeing many more newborns and families.
