Congratulations on your new (or incoming) bundle of joy & your new (or renewed) journey in parenthood!
I'm here to talk about lifestyle newborn sessions and why they're my favorite kind of baby photography.
Let's outline the two styles first:
1. The studio newborn session: you've seen it around - babies on their own in front of a professional backdrop, typically within the first week after birth, asleep, and put into adorable outfits and various positions amongst props, looking like little cherubs.
2. The lifestyle newborn session: an intimate at-home shoot taken anytime from a few days after birth to a few weeks from it. Babies don't necessarily have to be asleep for these, and are often looking around at mom and dad, into space, or into the camera. This shoot captures the baby & the family in their natural environment.
The kind of newborn shoot I specialize in is the lifestyle newborn shoot. Taken in the comfort of one's own home, my lifestyle newborn shoots are taken with an honest, documentarian approach. I love these photos because they show the most sacred place for any family - the home. The place you live and laugh and love - the place you made your own and the place you spend most of your time.
These shoots are less about glossy glamour and fantasy scenes and more about the honest realities of life with a new baby. Life as parents. Life changing as you know it.
Don't get me wrong. Studio newborn sessions are so special and so beautiful, it's just that for me, being able to document the tender time of having a newborn in the familiarity of the home and being able to incorporate mom & dad, pets, and siblings, is something that is so intimate, so raw, and indescribably beautiful in my eyes.
When you look back at your newborn's photos years from now, don't you just love the idea of being able to point out landmarks and heirlooms? Your old home, baby's old crib, old favorite toys and clothing - rooms of your old house documented long after you've moved out and had a few garage sales forever preserved in a little album to show a chapter of your life. In opting for a lifestyle newborn shoot, you are able to document a precious era in your sacred home in a permanent way. It's an incredible gift.
I've included some of my favorite newborn shots - let me know what you think? I am so looking forward to all of my maternity, family, and newborn shoots I have scheduled this coming year!
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