Rustic and Bright Newborn Photos

It’s devastating when your favorite photographer moves or is no longer available to take your family’s photos. I know how hard it is to trust someone else when you’ve developed a relationship with a photographer. Photos are so personal and important that it can feel stressful to make the change to a new photographer, but sometimes you have to.

This was the case for Aggy and Brandon: when Aggy was pregnant with their second child, the couple learned their favorite photographer was moving. Aggy and I went to school together and had reunited on Facebook after many years of not being in touch. She had seen my work on Instagram, and contacted me, letting me know she loved my style and wanted to know more about newborn photo sessions for June.

The ideal timing for newborn sessions is 5-10 days after the baby is born. Since we often don’t know the exact due date, I always pencil in three dates with my clients around their estimated due date to ensure we have the session in this window.

Liam was born June 25th which out our session on the last date we had scheduled.

During the newborn session, we took a range of beautiful photos including big sister and baby brother, dad and Liam, mom and Liam, and photos of the whole family along with traditional solo newborn photos. It’s always my hope that we can capture a variety of images, but it is always the newborn who decides how much we accomplish in our session!

To achieve a smooth newborn session that leads to a range of photos, I use many techniques and tricks during a session. I find that keeping the air in our location warm will help the baby not notice that he is naked. I also start with the baby bundled in a wrap. This not only helps with warmth, but also helps to limit their startle reflex, which will often wake the baby up.

Another favorite trick to help create a successful newborn session is using the green (sometimes pink or yellow) hospital newborn pacifier. This is also known as respitonics soothie pacifier, and with a few tiny sucks, littles ones can drift back to sleep if they begin to wake up. I know that some parents worry about nipple confusion and prefer not to use a pacifier during session. However, I personally find that in a newborn session a pacifier is used as a placeholder, and is not confused with feeding. Newborns express pain, happiness, sadness, frustration, and comfort orally. Using a pacifier can helps bring comfort to a little one who might be slightly awakened when I pose them.

Thankfully, Aggy and her family were ok with the use of the pacifier in their session which allowed for more diversity in their images. Liam was a trooper throughout the entire session and everyone is so happy with the way the session turned out.