fbpx

Month: February 2019

Posted on

Newborn Photographer – The Gift of Motherhood

Baby toes with parents wedding rings on them

The Gift of Motherhood

Having a baby is the most incredible journey you will ever go on. As a newborn photographer I always dreamed that one day I would have my own baby and that I would be able to go on this journey too.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like you see in the films. Eventually I fell pregnant.

You experience such a mixture of emotions in such a short space of time. You celebrate, you cry, you laugh, you cry a bit more… There is no day like the first couple days. You’ve just successfully given birth to your baby, you’ve run the equivalent of a marathon and …. you’ve survived. Your baby is safe and well. You feel on top of the world when you see just how perfect your baby is.

The toes,

Baby toes with parents wedding rings on them

the lips,

Close-up of a baby's face showing beautiful squishy lips

 

the hairy back….

Sleeping baby with lanugo at her newborn photoshoot

 

You might not even love your baby straight away but that is ok. You’ve only just been introduced. It won’t be long. You won’t be able to avoid their charms. Soon you will love them more than you have loved anything or anyone ever before.

Photographer kissing her baby daughter on the cheek

 

It’s incredibly hard being a new mum but yet it is the most rewarding job ever. The sleepless nights, the worrying, the not knowing what to do when baby cries. Nothing can prepare you for motherhood. No books, no NCT classes, no YouTube videos, not even One Born Every Minute (or my favourite Call the Midwife).

But one thing is for sure. YOU CAN DO THIS and you are doing an amazing job, even if baby can’t yet tell you what an awesome mummy you are!

Get in touch with your Newborn Photographer

I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of my experience of having a baby. As a newborn photographer I always enjoy sharing my experiences during the newborn photoshoot. There’s normally plenty of time with all the feeding, changing and cuddling that’s involved. I’m also happy to give advice where I can. If you are expecting a little one soon then I recommend booking your session as early as you can (we normally recommend waiting until after the 20 week scan) as I have limited space in my diary for newborns. Get in touch. I look forward to meeting you and your little bundle of joy very soon.

Posted on

First Birthday Photo Shoot Oxfordshire

First Birthday Photo Shoot

Of course we love photographing newborn babies. Newborn photoshoots are lovely, calm, relaxing affairs. Then there are sitter photo shoots around six months of age where baby might be sitting up or might be crawling. A bit of movement but nothing too alarming. And now we come to the first birthday photo shoot. Certainly some crawling, possibly some walking, definitely some mess and always a lot of fun.

When clients are having their newborn photographs done we often get on to the subject of the first birthday photo shoot. When we mention a cake smash they often give us a blank look. As with a lot of the ideas in our genre of photography, the Smash the Cake photoshoot hails from the US but it is proving increasingly popular over here. In fact our Oxfordshire Cake Smash Photoshoot is becoming one of the most popular sessions that we offer. So popular that we have had clients from Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. We’ve even had some clients from London coming to us for a 1st birthday photoshoot.

Baby girl holding wooden spoon in air wearing a lilac tutu and smashing cakeWhat to Expect?

So what is involved? It’s worth pointing out that many people don’t see the point in organising an official birthday party for their one year old. They’re not going to remember it and there’s a lot of effort and time involved. Many of our clients find that we become the ideal alternative. Baby gets to have a lot of fun and the parents get some beautiful images to remember their child’s first birthday by. (Or to put it another way – to celebrate the parents surviving a whole year). We also provide the cake and all the outfits so you do not need to worry about a thing.

We like to give parents a nice gallery of images to choose from so we aim to do three to four set ups (not just the cake smash). Generally we start with some family portraits. This is a nice way to gently introduce baby to the studio lights and the camera. Then we do some baby portraits with the O N E letters or a big number 1. Then comes then cake and we finish with splashes and bubbles in our specially designed roll top bath.

Birthday girl sitting in bubble bath looking at party balloons

The Cake

The cake smash photoshoot is always an intriguing time to see how the babies react to the cake. Often their first birthday photoshoot is the first time that they will be allowed anything with sugar in like cake. We place them down next to the cake and aim to get some nice shoots before any destruction begins. Then we sit back, watch and wait. Sometimes they get stuck straight in and are quickly covered in brightly coloured buttercream. Other times they are horrified by the texture of the icing and they need a little help and encouragement. Normally as soon as they find the cake hiding beneath they are happy to get tucked in and start eating the cake or smashing it with a wooden spoon.

Whichever way it goes we are normally exhausted. But baby has a wonderful time and the parents leave with some lovely memories and a lovely clean, tired baby.

Get in Touch

We hope you have enjoyed reading about what we do for a living. Feel free to comment, like and share. If your little one has a milestone coming soon and would like some photos like these please get in touch. Visit our First Birthday Photo Shoot Section here or contact us here. You can find more examples of our work on our Facebook page here or our Instagram page here. Please try and book as early as possible to secure your preferred date.