NEWBORN Session Guide
We are a fully eqquipped baby-led studio. This means that everything we do is in the best interest of the baby in terms of safety, comfort, and the baby's needs being met at all times, so you can relax knowing your baby is in good hands!
FAQ
How Long Will My Session Take?
1-3 Hours
Sometimes babies need plenty of time for feeding, changing, and at times they have unsettled tummies (particularly after the two weeks of birth) if they are experiencing wind or colic, if they are cluster feeding, or if they are sensitive to touch don't worry this is all totally normal and we can usually tell what it is!
We will take our time to ensure baby is completely comfortable.
What If my Baby Becomes unsettled?
The key is not to rush, we have a trick up our sleeve that helps us to identify their needs, that is in their cry, see Dunstan baby language below.
Some babies can more be sensitive to touch than others, therefore if they are being posed, wrapped, adjusted, or lifted they can startle or cry depending on what sleep stage they're in, but we'll counteract this by using a one wrap workflow!
Parent and Sibling/ Extended Family Photos
Parents are included, siblings and other family members incur an additional cost as will add more session time, as well as additional images being edited for your gallery.
We encourage all parents to have a snap or two! These memories are important, so even if you don't feel very photogenic, they will still be special! However this is not necessary, we can substitute another baby focused set up if necessary,
Do We Need To Help In the Session?
We are trained to handle babies for photographic reasons, we will only ask parents to lend a hand while baby is in particular props to ensure they are not left unattended for example we may ask you to place your hand on them while we take a shot, other than this please relax! We can help you burp feed or cuddle your little one!
We have access to Netflix, and Youtube, and we have a kitchen for coffee and tea!
What do We Bring?
You do not need to bring anything for the photo session itself, we provide clothing, wraps, props and everything needed for the shoot.
If you have of sentimental value that you'd like to incorporate into the shoot, bring it along!
If baby takes a bottle, it's best to bring more milk than needed is definitely recommended. if baby takes a pacifier that is also helpful!
Feeding & Soothers
Please do exactly what you usually do with your baby at home!
We do not want to disturb your baby's routine.
You're welcome to have the privacy and time you need to feed your baby until they are full, this prevents cluster feeding, which can stretch out the session time.
If baby takes a soother such as a pacifier or likes some white noise in the background let us know! We usually play relaxation music, which we find calms everyone, and provides a peaceful environment.
What Should We Wear?
We suggest choosing up to three colours, and match each other with this, we match baby's outfit or wrap with whatever you are wearing!
Neutral or soft colours work well! We recommend you choose a maximum of three colours to work with, we can match baby in almost anything you wear with our large range of coloured wraps.
Our Session Workflow
We start by posing your baby on what's known as the "posing table" which is a table specially designed for newborn photography used for a series of poses suitable for your baby.
Next, we move to prop set ups, we have plenty to choose from, we usually use two or three. This is when we introduce siblings if any into the session, (siblings can come first in the workflow if needed).
We finish with some beautiful family portraits, even if you are not photogenic, we definitely recommend having some images taken, you don't have to show them to anyone, but you may just love them, and be happy you did it!
We use flattering angles and photoshop areas of the face or body (on request), so you have nothing to lose!
"The Dunstan Baby Language"
This is the universal baby language is our go to for solving the why are you crying mystery!
Science discovered a long time ago that babies' cries are triggered by reflexes in the body, this was first discovered by Priscilla Dunstan, a talented child musician who since the age of five had an incredible ear for sounds.
As an adult Priscilla was able to identify vowels, pitches and in her son Tom's crying that enabled her to identify his needs, science has identified that each cry a baby makes is relative to a reflex in the baby's body.
In example a " Neh, Neh" cry means hunger as the sucking reflex makes the tongue sit at the roof of the mouth. The "eh, eh" is the burp reflex triggered by the diaphragm contracting.
Sometimes cries are simultaneous so we will work with you and baby to eliminate their issues one by one!
>> CLICK HERE FOR AN INFORMATIONAL VIDEO <<