A day in the life as a Swansea newborn photographer – A session with me
Its day 2190 in the newborn photographer house.
I wake up normally after a very late-night editing and get the dogs off the bed – hubby is still happily snoring away.
First thing is to switch on the light in my daughter’s bedroom and wake her up for school: she’s 12 years old and I’ve got to admit she is very good at getting up and sorting herself out.
Meanwhile I’m downstairs, open up the back door and let the dogs out for their morning sniff.
And then… coffee time. (White, 2 sugars if you are asking)
After the school run, I go straight into the studio for another coffee… as the first one didn’t touch the sides, oh.. of course, it’s also time to get the heater on to warm the studio ready for my little client of the day.
TIME TO PREP
I start with picking some prepping my posing table by picking a colour backdrop and a little romper that matches the colour.
I love matching my backdrop, rompers and wraps as I feel it gives a more throughout, polished look to my portraits.
Then I pick three or four props that I love from my big collection and put them together with different textures and colours to create some gorgeous, nest-like setups.
At the same time, I might be checking my emails and social media, or I might have a podcast going on in the backdrop or even some of the training videos I like to watch just to keep my brain in the right focus.
After 6 years I’m still learning and watching new things all the time – I love seeing new trainers every year as each trainer will show me something new, just a little nugget of inspiration or something I hadn’t seen before.
TIME FOR MAGIC
At 10.30 I welcome my client for the day into my Swansea studio with the offer of a hot drink and a comfy seat and I get my first look at a gorgeous sleepy baby, normally in the carrier which is followed by little ahhhhs.
I will ask parents for a little background into the birth, any specific things I need to know, health checks and make sure that there are no issues that I feel might mean I cannot do certain poses.
As the session moves on, I go through my posing flow, Tushee up, side lie, huck fin and the onto chin on hands each pose progresses after the next taking time for feeds and little bottom taps and cwtches, all the while the white noise is being played in the background.
Parents are normally sat on the couch in the studio catching up with their social media, reading and just relaxing and I hear a lot of “oh wow look” “oh my that is so cute”.
THE NEWBORN PHOTOSHOOT CONTINUES…
There might be a moment where we have to stop for little accidents but hey, they happen. And it’s wet wipes to the rescue and perhaps even a whole change of backdrop.
Next, we move onto my posing props.
Baby is wrapped into an adorable little bundle and every time I wrap, my parents are amazed at how I do it and the effect it has on little one who just falls asleep so relaxed and comforted – thing is maybe 10 days before, baby was all cwtched up in mums’ belly exactly the same way.
I move through all my props, changing headbands, hats and wraps and most of the time the baby doesn’t even know what’s happening as they are fast asleep.
This is normally the quickest part of the session because of this and it’s also the part of the session where I can be a bit more creative (or arty farty as my daughter calls it)
Finally, we finish with some parent images, and I will unwrap the baby and then dress them back into their sleep suits, vests and hand them back to mum and dad.
I will have a quick chat with my parents, make sure that they are happy with the session, and we then also book in the viewing appointment.
AAAAND… RELAX
When my clients have left, I then strip down the posing bed taking home anything that we used so it can be washed clean and tidy for the next session.
Props are put back in their place, the lights go out and I close the door after saying a very cheesy “thank you studio” don’t ask me why I do it, but it’s been a habit over the past three years.
I arrive home to two very excited dogs and mostly a very tired daughter after a day in school.
