Newborn + Baby Photography
Newborn + Baby Photography
I photograph newborns in the houses they came home to, in the rooms where all of this is actually happening, because those first two weeks are not a backdrop you can rebuild later. The particular way the light falls across your bed at ten a.m. is going to be gone in a month. So will the way your older daughter leans into the bassinet like she's checking on something she owns.
And listen, about the house. Please do not clean it. I say this to everyone and nobody believes me, so let me say it plainly: my own house is a dump most of the time, I know exactly how to frame a room so the laundry basket lives outside the picture, and you have a two-week-old. Leave it.
Don’t want to worry about your house? That’s totally fine? I love outdoor newborn sessions! We can find a relaxing space and make it just as beautiful as if we did it in your home.
Ten in the morning, twelve days in. The good light is coming through the window over the couch, the one you've never really noticed until now, because until now you were never awake and sitting still at ten in the morning. There's a muslin swaddle draped over the arm of a chair. There are three water glasses on the side table and nobody remembers whose is whose. The baby has been asleep for forty minutes, which counts as a miracle, and everyone is speaking in the low church voices you use around a sleeping newborn.
That is the session. That right there.
About
What a lifestyle newborn session actually looks like
There are two ways to photograph a newborn, and they produce very different pictures.
Posed newborn photography is the one you've seen. Baby curled into shapes, wrapped tight, propped on a beanbag against a seamless backdrop, often in a studio. It takes a lot of skill and the results can be gorgeous, and it is not what I do.
I photograph lifestyle. That means you, in your space, holding your baby the way you actually hold your baby. It means your partner's hands, your older kid's feet, the dog who refuses to be excluded from anything. It means feeding, because feeding is most of what these days are. It means the two of you looking down at this person you made, which is the photograph you will still be crying over in fifteen years.
Nobody gets posed into a shape. I direct gently, I move around a lot, and mostly I stay out of the way and let you be with your baby while I work.
-
I typically plan for up to 90 mins for newborn sessions. I've photographed hundreds of babies, not to mention raised my own, and not one of them ever cared what time I said I'd be finished. So we build in room. Room to feed, room to change a diaper, room to set the camera down while somebody gets walked around the living room until she settles.
-
You just brought a new human into your house who demands all your time and attention- it’s a miracle that you’re function. If your house is a total mess, that’s ok. I am very good at moving clutter aside to find a nice spot for our photos. That said, I typically aim for 2-3 locations in your house (the baby’s room, your room, and a nicely lit public space), so if you have it in you tidy up beforehand, that will make it all the less stressful for you.
-
Wear whatever makes you comfortable- I recommend neutral colors that won’t cast colors on your baby. I especially recommend avoiding reds and oranges since most babies already are a bit red from childbirth still. I send all clients a prep guide that offers wardrobe guidance.
-
Yes! I’m happy to include them in some of your photos. I do want to note that it’s important for me to keep your sessions as low stress as possible, so if family or pets increase your stress, it might be worth considering whether or not you want to include them.
-
I will contact you approximately 4 weeks after your session with your final, edited gallery. Easy peasy!
