OK, you want a newborn portrait. That’s good. I do those. I like those. But before you reserve a session (and I do recommend pre-booking a newborn session while you are pregnant) you probably should make sure you actually like my newborn pictures. I know that sounds like a ridiculously obvious thing to say but you’d be surprised how many people ask me if I can do it in color. So, before you book me, or any photographer, take a look at my portfolio and make sure that’s what you want.

So, why the pre-booking? Well, when the baby arrives you are going to be tired, tired and, oh, tired. Sure, babies may sleep 18 hours a day but they do it in 20 minute increments, in between which they wake you up and demand to eat. You want to book a newborn shoot for as soon after the birth as possible, as in days old, not weeks old. If you pre-book all you have to do is shoot me an email and I’ll send you a list of dates we can shoot and then all you just pick one and I show up.

So, you wonder, how does the actual session go?

Well, first, if you want any “simply babies” style pictures the baby has to be under 1 month old. I don’t do the posed shots with older babies. Furthermore, the room has to be HOT. You’re asking a very small person, whose body isn’t great at self-regulating its temperature yet, to sleep naked. I don’t know about you but I certainly wouldn’t be able to sleep naked in a 68 degree room; let’s not ask the baby to. 80 degrees minimum. 85 is better. If the adults aren’t sweating it’s not hot enough.

I’ll bring in a bean bag, some black blankets and some giant clips. I’ll set that up, along with some portable heaters and then proceed to ignore it. Why? Because the odds are really good that at this point your baby will be awake. Babies find me fascinating and need to be coaxed to abandon my amazing presence for the gentle oblivion of sleep. (It isn’t just yours. My own children repeatedly demonstrate how much they hate to sleep in my presence.) If your child is actually soundly asleep I’ll have you strip him or her down and we’ll do the simple baby solo shots.

If, as is far more likely, the commotion of a stranger appearing at your doorstep, carrying stuff, rouses your baby from rest to look about and demand to eat we’ll ignore the bean bag set up and I’ll track down the light I like best and put you there. This may not be where you expect. Light trumps location. Then I’ll ask you you to interact with your baby. Kisses. Snuggles. Hold her up in the air. Rub his nose with yours. Place your cheek on the top of her downy head. Lay down next to him on the bed. If you want breastfeeding portraits, let me know as I don’t shoot them unless asked. That’s it. The most beautiful, tender shots are always the ones where you are just loving your child. Those sweet moments happen best when I step back and just observe (you know, once I’ve got you shoved where I like the light). I may call your name. I may tuck your hair out of your eyes. I may suggest you move in closer or hold hands. I may even clear clutter out from behind you. I won’t tell you to say cheese or try to get everyone – you, your partner, your 5-year-old and your 2-year-old – to all look at the camera at once.

When your baby falls asleep (and a very warm room, a full belly and snuggles do work wonders) we’ll slip him or her into the beanbag setup and get those shots. And that’s it, we’re done!

Then I get one up on the blog quickly as a sneak peek and the whole set done within 5-10 business days. I’ll let you know when they are ready and we’ll schedule an ordering session. I tried doing it online for over a year but, really, even with pretty good software it’s just complicated. What finish do you want? What size do you want? Oh, looking at what you want it might be more economical to do a collection. What do the announcements actually FEEL like. People got frustrated because they didn’t find the online set up intuitive enough. It was a mess. Now, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but after a year or more of something not working I do get the hint that it needs changing. So in person ordering it is. Finally, you get your prints and your albums and your canvas and you send the prints to family, put one in a frame for work, put the album on the coffee table and hang the canvas on the wall.

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