I absolutely adored this in home newborn photoshoot. It was a gloomy day in the Somerset and although it wasn't a long journey from my home in Wiltshire it had taken me a little while to get there. It was absolutely worth it to meet the sweetest newborn baby boy. This was the third baby for an incredible mama but this is her first son. It was a privilege to be able to capture the connection between the pair of them.
I started the same way that I start every newborn lifestyle session and ask about how mum is. I could see that she was and absolute hero and she was just making motherhood look easy but I want to find out how the birth was and if there is still a lot of pain. Things like a tear or a c-section makes me think of how I get my clients to sit or move. I also talk about where your little one is with feeding and sleeping.
I always allow your little one to take the lead when it comes to the photoshoot. We stop if they need feeding. We will take a break if we need to do a nappy change and I will be there to capture as much or as little of it as you want. If you want photos feeding your baby then I am all for that and that goes for bottle or breast.
I always talk all the way through the session and I find that this allows my clients to open up as we go. I discovered that even though this mama was doing well this was her most difficult labour and birth experience. As someone who has been in a similar situation it really did effect me and helped me to focus on capturing the connection of this mother and son.
We sometimes have people think that our job is to take nice photos and then carry on to the next client. It has never been the case for me. This newborn photoshoot really did help me to realise a huge reason why I do this. After I delivered the gallery to my client I had a message back. She explained that she had really struggled after her ordeal in hospital and that this shoot had helped her to heal. She could see the connection between her and her son and that she felt like this had helped her to bond more with her child. She also said that she felt self conscious but these images were some of her favourite photographs that she had of herself.
Absolutely its about documenting your newborn and all their tiny details but often its much more than just that. Often it is the first thing that you will do with you little baby and it is an incredible way to bond. You are making memories during the hazy newborn daze.
