The newborn portrait industry has grown in popularity over the past few years with lots of photographers offering studio sessions and mobile portrait sessions.
But the question I hear a lot is “what happens in a newborn session?” so this post is all about me, what I have been taught and what I can offer.
So Ive been a newborn portrait specialist for over 7 years now and a photographer for almost 15. But I actually trained as an accountant and straight from school worked in a lot of offices and large industries all over the UK. Photography was always a hobby, actually its always been more than a hobby but I never dreamed that I would get to have my studio on a High Street and got to meet some beautiful newborn babies (now over 200) in the past seven years.
Eight years ago I was made redundant from a stressful job and with a family to be well for I decided to take a break from the 9 to 5 and see whether I could be make a living from my passion.
Out of a chance reading on Facebook, I attended a one day newborn portraiture course just to see what it was all about. I absolutely loved it and decided that this was what I wanted to do , I wanted to photograph newborns and one day, perhaps have my own studio. So a friend of mine had a room to spare that I could use from time to time in his yoga studio and some room under his stairs to keep my props and accessories but these props and accessories just grew and grew until I needed a bigger space .
I started newborn portraiture training as its actually an industry where you don’t have to be trained but I felt it was so important as I have in my hands the most precious gift. Over the past 6 years I have had training with some of the top newborn photographers in the country and was very proudly awarded the Welsh Newborn Photographer of the year 2022
So what does happen?
Well normally parents will book their session with me a few months before their due date and this then means that I can keep space in the studio diary for babies being overdue. As soon as little one has arrived I get a message that baby has been born and we book the session which is normally 6 to 24 days new.
So on the day of the session, parents bring their little one and the first thing is Coffee or tea? Its probably one of the first opportunities they will have for a hot cuppa and I remember that feeling well.
We will have a chat about the session and what I’m going to be doing, how im going to photograph baby and also show them the props that I have picked along with the color scheme. After all these images are going to be displayed on the walls in your home so I think its really important for the images to look their best in the home and to follow a scheme of color that ties in perfectly.
I will ask parent about how baby is fed, any things that I need to know about such as issues with tummies etc and if there are anything that baby wont like. If baby needs to be fed then we feed now and if its bottle, I offer to feed baby myself, firstly so that little one is used to my smell and warmth and also it means that parents get to have that cuppa!
Beanbag is the first part of the session and this is where I do all those lovely curled up poses – baby is still used to being in mums tummy so they love to be curled up and its really comfortable for them .
I move through all these gorgeous little poses and they all have funny names. Taco pose, huck finn and tushy up.
Baby is always moved through slowly and parents just sit back and watch me work .
Next are my props.
I love my prop poses, there are lots of gorgeous buckets and boxes to choose from and its where I get really creative with textures and color tones and little accessories such as delicate headbands for the girls and gorgeous home made knitted wraps and hats . Babies are placed in gorgeous little tubs and crates and parents always ask me “where did you get that” and “they are sleeping better in that than in their bed”
Im constantly looking at new props and accessories for my prop work and many of the awards that I have won over the past year are with my props with baby wrapped beautifully and fast asleep looking extremely comfortable.
And finally is a family portrait, I think this is so important as its probably the first photograph of the new little family unit and one that I love to take – I get to see these proud and loved expressions.
So now you have read what to expect and how I work , I would love to hear from you if are looking to book a newborn portrait experience.
These memories that we create in the studio are memories for your children
