I’ve been so excited to share this post every since I put little Sloan’s session on the calendar! I knew that once I had it featured on the blog I could officially announce the new direction I’ll be taking with newborns in 2015.
A little back story… When this family requested a session for their newborn with a purely lifestyle approach rather than the highly posed, baby-on-a-backdrop style, I felt like they had read my mind. I always enjoy photographing babies but I have a lot of extra love for this journalistic method and I’d been thinking about shifting into exclusively offering lifestyle photography for newborns in 2015. The thing is, most of my clients request both the posed (backdrop style) portraits AND lifestyle photography featuring baby at home with family. It’s become pretty common for me to do both things during a newborn session. What I’ve struggled with though, is that I always feel like one or the other is a little short changed. Maybe I could have captured one more pose on the backdrop if I didn’t have to shift gears and move on to family… Maybe I could have done more with family and been more creative if I hadn’t just spent 2-3 hours working with the baby on the ottoman/backdrop… I knew that a decision had to be made in order to offer my very best and I decided I can only do my very best when I’m doing what I love the most. So, starting in January I will only be offering this type of newborn session ( of course in addition to children, families, seniors and weddings!)
Please reference the bottom of this post for a little list of bullets addressing some of the FAQ.
I photographed baby Sloan a couple weeks ago at her home with her ADORABLE family. She was about six weeks old at the time and already full of smiles! And her brother Oliver… there just isn’t a word for the amount of charm packed into this little guy. (Sidenote, I’m pretty sure I could live in this nursery if the crib were just a little bigger.) OHMYGOSH it’s so beautiful! Her dad even pieced together this rustic wall himself. But, her mom is the designer in the family I think – so talented!
Here are a few bullets to explain more about lifestyle photography for newborns and to address some FAQ:
* I love lifestyle photography and doing what I love produces the best results for my clients! Also, as a huge fan of consistency, it makes me happy that my work with newborns moving forward will “match” the rest of the work I’ve always done with babies and families.
* We still want to capture portraits of your baby alone but they don’t have to be curled and propped up to make beautiful memories. Lifestyle newborn portraits are the kind I would prefer on the walls of my own home. They’re authentic and less trendy. I’m not saying I don’t LOVE a curled up baby portrait – simply that I love this kind more.
* This session will still take place in your house, keeping it very convenient for new parents and at the same time providing the most personal “backdrop” there could possibly be – your child’s first home!
* Good news, we will no longer be on such a super tight time crunch for your newborn session. While traditional newborn sessions need to be captured in the first 2 weeks of life for baby to sleep enough to guarantee the posed shots, lifestyle sessions don’t rely on the same time frame and can be captured at any time in first two months! I suggest we plan for the 2-6 week time frame. I LOVE that parents won’t have to be thinking about portraits while they’re just barely getting used to being home from the hospital.
* Does your home/nursery need to look like the cover of Pottery Barn or West Elm for this type of session? No, of course not. We just need to have some natural light available and a simple atmosphere (we can move a few things around if we need to in order to create some space.) We’ll send you a list of tips to help you prepare.
* Will I ever offer the posed-baby-on-a-backdrop sessions again? I might and I might even bring on another photographer to specialize in that area! For now, it is lifestyle only.
If you got this far, thanks for reading! I’m excited for the new direction and hope you are too!