You’ve booked a photographer for your newborn session – great! You might be wondering, “how can I prepare for this session?” Don’t stress! Here are some tips to help you prepare for your lifestyle newborn session.

LOCATION

The first thing I tell my clients is try not to stress – you just had a baby and your LAST focus should be on the state of your home. We won’t shoot in every room of the house. Typically we will stick to 2-3 spaces within your home. For example, 3 spaces I generally use are the nursery, your main living space (family room/living room) and bedroom.

PREPARING YOUR SPACE

First things first – do not stress about cleaning. Try to clear nightstands or prominent counters of clutter and distracting elements. Your counters don’t have to be bare and they certainly don’t have to be lemony fresh! If there are elements within your home that need moved out of the way, I’ll happily make those adjustments after evaluating the space.

Less is sometimes more, so if you’ve just moved into your home or the nursery isn’t done – that’s okay! I love clean backgrounds, so bare walls and rooms suit my style just as well as a perfectly appointed room.

PREPARING THE FAMILY

One of the first questions I always get asked is, what do we wear? You can rest easy knowing that I have some example and a guide to help you with outfit ideas. You are more than welcome to have a few outfits prepared for the session and I find that neutral colours work best for these sessions. Avoid wearing anything with logos, brands, neon colours, busy prints etc. Cream, light blues, tan, grey and whites are very pleasing. I’ve also started a Pinterest board with additional ideas for your outfit selection. Most importantly, wear something that you feel comfortable in! There is nothing worse than wearing an outfit that makes you feel uncomfortable, and that will show in the photos.

The second part of preparing your family is letting them know what they can expect during the session. Typically I’ll need 1-2 hours of your time, but I won’t be photographing you the entire time. We’ll capture combination of photos, so be prepared to capture your family as a whole, and then smaller groupings, to just baby on their own. If you have other children then we will likely start with family and sibling photos, so that once we’ve captured those moments, they can then relax. I find younger children generally last about 30 minutes for photograph before they no longer want to be apart of the session.

PREPARING MOM

During these sessions you are the most important person (no offense partners!). You are the food source (if breastfeeding) and who will settle down your baby. If you are feeling stressed, your baby will be pick up on this, so give yourself some time to get ready and relax before the session! Take your time when you need to feed during the session, and don’t let my presence rush you. Photographing a baby with a full stomach should lead to a happier baby, and the session should run smooth from there. The more relaxed you are the better you’ll feel during the session and the smoother the session will run.

PREPARING BABY

These session run best if baby is sleeping OR at the very least content. Make sure they have a full belly when I arrive along with a clean diaper. This should help with starting the session soon after I arrive. As for outfits, same advice goes as the rest of the family. Dress them simple, so a simple white (or coloured) onesie will work for these sessions. If your baby loves to be swaddled, then having some simple muslin swaddles will come in handy. If you’d like to add any accessories (a hat or headband) have these ready for the session, so I can incorporate them into the photos.

This experience should be stress free for everyone! Prepping for your newborn session is important to ensure the session can go as smoothly as possible.  If you’ve booked your newborn session with me, I look forward to meeting you and your family! I hope that these tips will help you in preparing for your session.