Photographing newborn babies is seriously one of my favourite jobs as a professional photographer. I love that I get to capture this very special and very fleeting moment in the life of a family, especially if it’s their first child.
No one quite prepares you for what’s in store when you first have your baby. Sure, you can read the books, but you know nothing until you’re in it. Not to mention that every baby is unique and is their own person right from the start. Some are squishy and sleepy. Others cry a lot and have trouble feeding. Some want to be held. Others don’t. Some love water. Others scream bloody murder come bath time.
I have written before about the newborn photographs I wish I had taken more of when my son was little. I truly believe that it’s not the cutesy posed images of babies in baskets that parents really treasure as the time goes by. It’s the raw, real photographs that document the first days of their journey into parenthood, or becoming the parents of their second or third baby, that will be looked at over and over again as the children grow and move out.
During a newborn photography session with me, there’s no need to make any special preparations or rush to have a session within the first 10 days of the baby’s life (I don’t pose the baby, so it doesn’t matter if they are 5 days of 20 days old). I will join you at your home when you’re ready, and spend about 2 hours with you, documenting your life with the baby – feeding, rocking to sleep, nappy changing, and even the bathtime. We will spend about 15 minutes creating some very relaxed and natural portraits of you with your newborn, as well as some pictures of the baby on their own, but apart from that there’s really no need to pose or worry if the baby is falling asleep, or is fussy, or is not on schedule yet. I photograph you just as you are, perfectly imperfect – and that’s the beauty of it.
For this newborn photoshoot in Teddington, I joined the family when their baby boy was 19 days old. Their adorable dachshund Scarlett also joined the photoshoot. The baby had just woken up and was due a feed, so that’s where we started. After a stretch of feeding and some burping, the baby decided to surprise their parents with his very first poo-nami which made for some hilarious photographs that the parents are sure to show him when he’s older! That was when it was decided that bathtime will be included in our photography session, as there was no other way to clean that baby up, and he absolutely loved being in warm water! We finished with some relaxed lifestyle portraits of all four (including the dog!) members of the family, and it was time to wrap up!
Following their photoshoot, the family have ordered a full set of digital images, a large 24×24″ nine-aperture frame and a set of albums, one for them, and one for each set of the grandparents – I’m going to share some images of those in the next few weeks! For now, enjoy the selection of just a few of my favourite images from their newborn photoshoot in Teddington.
