Preparing for our Newborn Portrait Session or New Family Session in Your Home

• We will  shoot any "naturally posed" individual newborn portraits in the room with the biggest windows / best natural light. Sometimes this is a kitchen or bathroom!  It's good for this room to be warm (about 80 degrees) so little one is comfortable and will sleep for us. I have been known to move furniture around if needed, just a heads up :)

• It is helpful for your newborn’s eyes to be clear of “goop” as much as possible, and for you to remove as much dry skin from baby’s face and lips as you are comfortable doing.  Don’t stress or obsess about this (!!), but these are two things that do show in portraits and can be very time-consuming (and sometimes impossible) to fully edit out.  Quick Tip: The natural oils in his or her brand new skin keep it smooth and creamy, and sometimes just one bath will initiate the inevitable dry skin-flaking that occurs often within those first two weeks; so please don't feel the need to bathe your baby for our session. 

• Ideally when I arrive, baby would be awake, have been awake for a long while, and be feeding when I arrive.  [Do not worry if your baby is not on a schedule and it doesn’t work out quite this way!  Baby is the boss, we can stop to take time for feeding and cuddling as necessary.  This is why newborn sessions can take so long. ]

• Regarding our 'start time'... I will have some unloading and setting up to do when I arrive, so for New Family Session clients, please do not feel like you need to have everyone 'ready' right when I get there.  I will do individual photos of baby first, which will take thirty minutes to an hour, and will give mama and other family members plenty of extra time to get ready.   For Newborn Portrait clients, it's completely fine if baby is still eating when I arrive, again for the unloading and setting-up that I will do.

• Baby should not be wearing anything that needs to go over-the-head or down the back to come off such as a onesie or sleeper (just a diaper and swaddled is great).  Unless an outfit was planned.

• Not always, but sometimes, baby will not sleep or relax to model for me if mama is too close by (especially if you are breastfeeding, because they can smell the goods!), so if I ask you to step a few feet back and let me handle baby during individual portraits, please do not be offended.  Also, please feel free to tell me “no” to anything you are not comfortable with!

• Things of yours that we might need that it would be helpful for you to have on hand: a couple large beach or bath towels, a firm pillow or “Boppy” if you have one, white cloth diapers or baby rags.  And of course any simple accessories or wraps that you want to utilize in the portraits.  

• I do not recommend onesies or "outfits" for newborn portraits because changing and pulling things on and off can make baby unsettled.  You'll see that in all of my portfolio work, newborns are simply dressed or swaddled only, because I believe this is the most precious way to draw attention to their natural features and the simplicity of their perfection.

• I will bring a bin of plenty of blankets and wraps for us to use.  If you also have a large blanket that you would like to use as a backdrop, have that out as well.  Solid-color chunky knits or smooth solid blankets photograph well.   I tend toward neutral tones and whites, but also have a handful of colored items in my bins as well.  For baby girls, I have about a dozen beautiful and simple tie-back headbands that we can use as well, but we can certainly use yours too!

• We will shoot the "lifestyle" portraits of the whole family ('New Family Story' package) wherever you'd like, but the most popular spot for these is in the nursery and/or master bedroom, and sometimes a living room or family room depending on the decor and the natural (window) light available.  Please do a thorough "clutter sweep" of these rooms.  I will shoot from all different angles and it's nice to have excess items already removed from background, for example: boxes removed from corners, phone chargers unplugged from the outlets, trash cans gone, dressers cleared off, etc. because those are things we don't want stealing the show in your final images.  We will also want to open as many windows as possible. I can also help you with all of this when I get there!

• If you (mom) aren't sure what to wear, lay out a few options and I can help you pick. I have a little experience with outfitting new mamas in a way that looks good on camera and makes her feel good in a time when she may be tired and sore and not always feeling her “best”.  When choosing your colors and attire, consider what you want to do with the photos when all is said and done.  If you want to put them up on your walls in your house, choose colors that will complement the decor of your home.  Think simple, and you cannot go wrong with neutrals and creams for parents of a newborn.  For mom, flowy and feminine can be nice.  For dad, a simple collared shirt or soft plain tee will do.  I recommend avoiding any logos or text or busy patterns on parents’ and siblings’ clothing, as these can be distracting and compete with the littlest family member that we want to stand out the most in these images.

• Depending on siblings’ ages, it can sometimes be helpful to have another set of hands (grandma, babysitter, etc.) in the house to help with older siblings while we do the newborn portraits or shots of just mom and dad with baby.  If this is not a possibility, don't worry about it, I just like to mention it in case parents hadn't thought of it. 

• Please let me know if you have any animals so I can be aware of them too.

In-Home Newborn Sessions are so very special because they capture your baby and this precious season of your life – right where you live it. Being in your home with you during this time is a privilege I treasure so much, thank you for trusting me with these important memories! -Kristi