I am overjoyed to be sharing this beautiful newborn shoot today. Little Finlay is an absolute joy and such a cutie. I spent the most wonderful afternoon with him and his mummy and daddy.
Laura’s sister in law is one of my favourite clients (shhhh, don’t tell anyone, I’m not really allowed favourites!) and she’d recommended me to Laura. Finlay is Laura and Ben’s much longed for miracle baby, they’d gone through a lot of trials and heartache to fall pregnant with him so Laura’s sister in law had gifted Laura a maternity shoot with me.
We had it all booked in and then, the week of the shoot, Laura was taken into hospital and told she needed to stay in until Finlay was born. As you can imagine this was a bit of a shock for them, however once things had calmed down and we all knew that Laura and Finlay were going to be fine we got back to seeing how we could make a session work. We hit upon the idea of using the hospital car park! I scouted out a little corner that would be perfect and we got a date booked in. Once again, Finlay had other ideas and he decided to make his appearance in the world just a few days before our shoot!
Now, we all know babies and planning do not go together! So we swiftly swapped the maternity shoot for a newborn shoot. As Finlay was premature we delayed until he was out of hospital and when the day of our session arrived, I couldn’t wait to finally meet him!
Finlay was five weeks old on the day of our newborn shoot and was still super dinky. He was just the cutest little thing and such an angel throughout the session. His Mum and Dad are utterly besotted and doted on him the entire time.
I always start my newborn shoots off with some family photos, no posing, no smiling for the camera, just lots and lots of snuggles. I never want my couples to worry or stress about an upcoming photo session. Especially a newborn shoot. They’ve got enough going on without worrying if the house is tidy or making rooms ‘photo ready’. I always remind them of this in the lead up to a shoot and we chat through their outfit ideas and clothing choices. That way everything is as easy as possible for them on the day and all they have to worry about is their little one. When I arrive at a house for a newborn session I scout out the areas with the best light and then if anything needs hiding I just tuck it behind a door, down the side of a sofa, anywhere out of sight! It takes me two seconds and stops new parents running around tidying when they’re already got lots going on.
For the first photos of the day, with Laura, Ben and Finlay, I’d brought some blankets along to put on the bed. This meant that Laura and Ben didn’t have to run about finding neutral coloured bedding! The three of them cuddled up and an absolutely smitten Laura and Ben spent some time gazing at their little boy.
It’s important to stress that my newborn shoots go at baby’s pace. We don’t rush, I don’t clock watch. We go with the flow and make sure that baby is happy, comfortable and settled. Whenever Finlay got a bit niggly we’d stop, he’d have a feed and as soon as he fell back asleep we got some absolutely adorable sleepy, snuggly photos of him on his own.
This was a dream shoot, the whole family is so lovely and Laura and Ben are such naturals with Finlay. They had spent so long dreaming of holding him in their arms and now he is here! I’ll be honest, knowing what they’d been through to have their boy made me a little emotional on the session. I'm just over the moon for them all.