Newborn Sessions – What options are there?

Newborn photo sessions, as a new mum, or mum to be, are usually not the first thing you think of. You are quite busy learning about what happens when you are pregnant. What will happen when the new baby arrives, what you need, what’s going to happen to you. You are about to have a baby, and this can be quiet overwhelming.

In both good ways – newborns smell so amazing – and bad – will i ever sleep again!

Then you realise, it quite simply dawns on you, that this is one of life’s most magical moments that you really do want to remember forever.

Doing this easily can be as easy as making sure your baby’s arrival is captured in photos.

Birth photography, if you are keen, is the very first way you can begin the journey of capturing the first steps into parenthood. This is gradually growing in popularity. Hopefully this will continue too. It’s a most magical time and you are so in the moment, you don’t see everything that happens. A birth photographer has a wonderful job. The images captured are wonderful images to have to be able refer back to. Having an album created is one of the best ways to be able to show off baby’s arrival earth side. Great to show them too, when they are a little older of course.

The next step is to have a newborn session for your baby, but what sort of newborn session and what sort of images are you hope to capture to be able to share and to keep?

Newborn sessions. There are generally 3 different types.

• Newborn Fresh 48 sessions are newborn session of a documentary nature taken within the first 48 hours.
• Posed newborn sessions are taken within the first 14 days, mostly in a studio setting, while,
• lifestyle newborn sessions are a more candid, sometimes documentary, capture of baby beginning their earthside journey. Still usually within the first 14 days and usually in the home rather than in a studio style session.

Newborn Fresh 48 Newborn session

Newborn Fresh 48 photography newborn sessions are newborn sessions of a documentary nature taken within the first 48 hours of baby being born. This is either in your home or in hospital. It’s a great opportunity to capture baby’s first days of life, meeting siblings, first feeds, and first snuggles with mum and dad. It good for capturing the meeting the grandparents. An opportunity to capture baby at their most new, but without being a birth photography session. You can also capture things like, babies hospital crib, hospital tags (look mum the price tags are still on!) and baby’s first bath.

Posed/Style Newborn Session

Posed newborn photography sessions are taken within the first 14 days, ideally. In most cases, depending on baby or circumstances (baby may have been premature or is super curly) these can be done up to a month old. Though baby’s they do grow incredibly fast during that time, so the early the better. This also can limit some types of poses too, as when baby’s are super newborn they are incredibly curly.

These newborn sessions can be simply styled sessions all about babies, with plain light or dark coloured back drops, minimal prop usage. Sometimes there is an even a greater use of black and white imagery, to really make sure its all about the baby.

The current trend is for more posed images with sessions involving a few different set ups. These can be simple shots on a beanbag followed by wrapped photos in a basket, or bowl. The sky is the limit. Dad might be a basketball player and want his baby boy posed with a basketball. It really is an opportunity to let your photographers creative juices flow. These sessions the photographers use lots of props, bonnets, bowls, baskets, drops, hats, tie backs, ribbons, flowers, and well anything that takes your or the photographers fancy. Oh in all sorts of colours too.

Usually the sessions are a mixture of set up photos of just baby, then siblings (including pets) can be incorporated as well. A sneakily hidden jelly bean can sometimes help with these shots, but its amazing how many big brothers and sisters really want to be involved in being in photos with their new sibling.

The most important shots to get are the ones with baby and Mum as well as baby with Dad. These are your opportunity to have a photo with this tiny person, who will never again be so tiny and new. I love these the most.

If there are of course siblings a big group family shot is super important to include too.

Lifestyle Newborn Session

Lifestyle newborn sessions are also generally taken within the first 14 days, but because the photos are more around baby interaction with family, and simple posing in a wrap these can be done up to a month old.

Again babies change really quickly and you’ll even notice at this age you might start to get photos of baby being more awake, there may even be some genuine, non-windy smiles in there too. These sorts of photos are usually slightly posed and take place in your home.

I like to do a little bit of posing, but it still looks very natural. While some photographers are quite definite in their candid approach, or documentary, in that they’ll want you to carry on with your time with your baby and children. They keep quietly about and capture your moments together.

Images can be anywhere in your home , while on their bed, with mum or dad. Snuggled on the couch. While baby is napping, fed by Mum – or Dad – being bathed or entertained by siblings. The key aim is quite simply to quietly capture that special time while its all very new. Its a great sort of session if you are keen to capture your new baby with its “fur” siblings too, as its not usually likely you’d bring the “fur” children to a newborn studio.

Newborn Sessions – so what’s your preference?

I love all types of newborn sessions and that’s because I love capturing the raw emotion and that so special private time of new parents with their tiny new baby’s.

If you love some of my images and want me to capture a newborn session for you, whether it be Fresh 48, posed/traditional newborn, or lifestyle newborn session, maybe you’d like to contact me on 0401 861 886 for via my contact page here.

We can chat about what you’d like and what you want to do with your gorgeous images.