There's that saying that goes, "don't work with animals and children". Well, apparently I don't listen to sayings because I had into my studio the absolutely gorgeous Harriet and her fur-sister, Alma the spaniel! How incredibly gorgeous are these two! Alma truly is one of the calmest and well behaved pups I've ever met! And, she has her own instagram account, how cool is that!?
I have a HUGE soft spot for dogs and always welcome them into any session whether they are in the studio or out on location (well behaved dogs ideally). Well, pets are part of the family too of course and in many occasions a dog is the first 'baby' a couple has.
Harriet's Mummy and Daddy live super locally and only had a wonderful 3 minute drive to my Colchester Studio for their natural newborn session. Charlotte found my work by looking on social media and how lucky that I was so close by too! I do however, welcome families from all over, not just locally. I've had newborns from Essex, Suffolk, London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and many other counties.
As the title states, my newborn shoots are un-posed. Now you may be thinking above photo looks rather posed but in fact Harriet loved being on her tummy so took no time at all to pop her like this and Alma, almost rested her head without me evening asking! My style of photography is candid and I capture 'moments' rather than stiff posses with hats, buckets or gimmicks.
Often babies don't like many of the posed positions you may see on the internet and it's a little stressful for baby and the parents watching. I choose to photograph babies at their happiest. If they prefer cuddles, we do that, a swaddle, then we use one or perhaps scrunched up on their back. I never force any of my sessions and it's very much baby led for the more gentle and relaxed shoot for all involved.
I want to enjoy photographing the shoot just as much as the parent's do watching it. When baby is being fed and burped we can sit, have a chat and a snack or two (provided by myself. I'm a snacker and love to have nibbles in the studio!)
Depending on how baby is when they arrive will depend on how the shoot starts. This one in-particular started with baby Harriet lying down peacefully and using Mum, Charlottes hands to touch and hold. I adore these styles of shots and have the parents heavily involved! If baby gets fussy, we feed, wrap and settle. If this is the case, I'd then do some cuddly family shots while baby relaxes and hopefully drifts off again.
The shoots are all different and there's no set pattern for newborn shoots as every baby is unique. Most babies go to sleep during the second half of the shoot, I've only ever had a few that stay awake the whole time. Even then, as the shoot is so natural, we can continue anyway and capture their movements and their features!
Harriet's shoot went swimmingly, so much so, we finished early as she slept the entire time! Take a peak at some more from her session...