When baby number two comes, you will undoubtedly want your first born included in your session too. And having a shoot that is a relaxing as possible is probably exactly what you'd hope to have. With my un-posed, natural newborn sessions, this is exactly what you get. A relaxed atmosphere, sweet photos and your older child choosing when he/she would like to join in and how much.
That way, you get so much more from them. If they choose to do something, they will co-operate more. And I have some tips and tricks up my sleeve to get those darling moments between the siblings.
Believe it or not I actually prefer newborn shoots with an older sibling. To me there's more variety, it's fun seeing the interactions between the siblings and my favourite.....seeing the parents melt over the sweet moments I capture between new baby and older brother/sister!
And when big brother/sister has had enough they can simply, take a seat on my comfy sofa, watch their iPad or have a snack break. More often than not, they decide to come back and join in later in the shoot. So, for parents who have just had another baby, which can be a super busy time in their lives, there's no forcing their older child to do anything.
The Cahill family came to see me for these exact reasons. Previously with their first born they had visited a photographer for a very posed newborn shoot including props and strict baby posing, taking 4-5 hours to complete and being rather stressful if baby was even slightly awake. This time around, Mum, Abby, wanted a totally natural shoot and a session that wasn't stressful - so booked in with myself for exactly that. The session was wonderful, and what a gorgeous family. Newborn Tommy even gave us lots of smiles which was the cherry on top!
Not worrying if baby Tommy was awake, I photographed in my normal candid style with gentle direction and lot of variety. With my natural shoots, I photograph whether baby is awake or asleep. It's always wonderful if the preparation has worked and baby is in a milk coma but let's be real, sometimes some babies, no matter the preparation may be super awake babies or for whatever reason do not sleep. With my sessions I don't let that stop us and capture the natural happenings that take place on the day. Tommy was awake for much of his session but he was content and happy being swaddled and cuddled. When he did drift off towards the end we got the best of both worlds, his wonderful bright eyes when he was awake and those sweet, soft sleepy shots when he was asleep.
Take a look at this dreamy session...