The diary of a newborn and baby photographer is a complicated place! Nobody told your baby that they are expected to turn up for their portrait session and while some can’t wait to get here, some are fashionably late. This makes my diary a wonderfully fluid place! When you first book your session you will be required to pay the 50% booking fee to reserve your due date in my diary. I take a limited number of newborn sessions each month so that I can ensure I can fit everybody in and work around midwife and health visitor appointments once baby is here. Once your baby arrives and you have settled back in at home just give me an email me/message me and we can then confirm the best date and time for your session. I find the first two weeks is best for photographing newborns, however I can, and do, take on older newborns; they may just be a little less sleepy and not quite as bendy as they are in the first two weeks. Your portrait session will take place in my comfortable studio in March. Newborn studios are not like traditional photography studios - they are designed to be warm and cosy. I want you and your baby to feel relaxed and comfortable so you are able to feed on demand and put your feet up with refreshments (I even have some new dads who take a quick nap!). I have a kitchen and toilet facilities, and there's a few cafe's, shops and even a nice play park just a 5 minute walk from the studio. So that I can capture your baby perfectly while they are still so brand new, for most of the session your baby will be in their birthday suit. Newborn clothes never fit correctly so we don’t get to see all those beautiful details that say ‘hey I’m brand new!’ However, one of the downsides of this, is your baby is guaranteed to poop and/or pee on props, blankets, perhaps even me or you! This is totally normal, and something I’m used to dealing with on a daily basis and something I allow for. All of my blankets and props are washed after each session and I have plenty of wipes to hand. You might want to pop a change of clothes for yourself into your changing bag, just incase the worst happens! (It usually happens during the parent portraits - but it's worth the mess, I promise!) Your newborn portrait session can take up to 2-4 hours, and the reason for this is your newborn will need feeding, cuddles and cleaning throughout the session which is baby led rather than photographer led! I have a range of props, headbands, bonnets, wraps and outfits available for you to choose from, in various colours to compliment your home and personality. If you have any ideas or preferences for images during your session, please do let me know and I'll try my best! Newborn sessions include family, parent and sibling pictures; if you have a favourite toy or a sentimental blanket (or even have a theme you'd like to try!) please let me know and bring it along to your session.
I hope this article answers the many common questions but if you would like to book or discuss a session please contact me here. To book your due date in the diary, please use my booking form. My price list is available here. I've had an influx of newborns over the last few weeks, one of whom was Rayan and his family - Mum, Dad and three older siblings! They'd travelled from their home in Peterborough to come to the studio on a sunny Saturday morning. When siblings are involved in newborn shoots, I always start with those pictures first, as younger children get bored and fed up with the whole debacle very quick! Over the years I've learned to work fast with children under four especially (mostly helped with my children not cooperating!). All four children were superstars! I did have to use all the tricks in the book, but it was worth it - don't you think? Once the children had had their photos taken (some with Mum and Dad too!) it was time for Dad to take them for a walk to the park while I worked on Rayan's portraits, with help from Mum. It took a while for Rayan to fall asleep, so I snapped a few photographs while he was awake then got him all snuggled up and got rocking, pacing and cuddling! Perks of the job! I always ask parents if they have any colour preferences and Rayan's Mum and Dad pretty much let me have free reign! It wasn't a conscious decision to use white, but I think it suited his skin tone perfectly, and the images look lovely and pure (even if I do say so myself!) At the end of the session, Rayan's Mum showed me a blanket that had been made for him by his grandmother and asked if I could incorporate it in a couple of photographs, something I love being asked to do! I hope you enjoyed looking through some of Rayan's photos as much as I did taking them, and thank you to his family for choosing me to capture these precious moments.
Emma Riley's family came along to his cake smash session last month, and what a messy one it was! As usual we started with some family pictures, and pictures of Riley with his older brother and sister - Riley wasn't interested in the slightest, and so I brought out my favourite props in the hopes we could at least keep him on the backdrop long enough to get a couple of snaps! My stool (a favourite among many babies!) worked for the briefest period, before Riley discovered he could climb off it and escape to raid the prop box ;) Up next was Bertie, my little red racing car, and Riley loved it so much he even licked the steering wheel! We managed to get a lovely smile out of him though. I then set up for the cake smash part of the session (my favourite bit!), and then we let Riley loose! I think there's still chocolate cake hidden somewhere in the studio; that stuff went eeeeverywhere! That's all part of the fun though!
Once the cake had been smashed to smithereens, Riley had a quick splash in my tub in between trying to climb out, and that was his session all finished! Riley and his family came back for their viewing last week and these are their favourite images from his session, and I hope you like them too! Happy First Birthday Riley! Emma x |
AuthorThe ramblings of Emma, Little Cherubs photographer in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire Archives
August 2018
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