Happy New(born) Year!
2024, you have certainly been the year of the newborn for me! In every aspect of my life that it!
In the words of Elphaba, “Something has changed within me, something is not the same”. That something is becoming a first-time mom myself earlier this year. This year completely changed my perspective on maternity and newborn photography, for the better. I’ve fallen in love with it in a way I didn’t know I every would.
I have always loved capturing babies and toddlers. Especially in beautiful park or beach settings. But capturing a newborn to me sometimes felt a little “unknown”. I was never quite 100% certain how to pose a baby comfortably in a parent’s arms without worrying they were like fragile porcelain dolls. Instead I now realize they are the softest little squishy loves that can be cuddled so easily.
For the first time I understand the tiredness that comes along with committing to a newborn session. I get that not only is sleep “limited” but in some cases so brief you doze off here and there just to try and recoup some sleep. I understand not feeling photo “ready” at all! In the days after my own C-Section I felt like some weird version of a human, but definitely not any version of the human I regularly see in the mirror.
I myself, held off saying I was “ready” until the point I could start to notice changes in my sweet baby since I had captured him in the hospital and at one week of life. So I knew, it was time to stand up and get myself together and day 13 of his life was the magic day for us. I remember taking a newborn photography class years ago that aid within the first 14 days of life was the window you wanted to aim for. Now, seeing just how rapidly these little sweeties change, I can attest to why you want them in the first two weeks. As much as I didn’t feel “ready” for our own photos, the most magical thing happened after them. I suddenly loved them more than any photo I had ever had of myself. More than our wedding or engagement photos even. Not that there was anything wrong with either of those, but even though I was 13 days postpartum and feeling so far from “normal” the one thing that exuded from looking at our images was how much we love our sweet baby boy.
Seeing our photos and matching how I knew I felt made me take on newborn photos differently. I could now relate to the moms and all the awkwardness the weeks after giving birth bring. I now understood the conversations between parents talking about, milliliters or ounces. How long since their last feed? It was like I was suddenly privy to a new language that helped me understand just how much was going into the parent’s morning preparing for their session.
My connection and emotions in a newborn session are different than they were just a year ago. I see them in a new way. I see the moments I loved most or wanted to remember most in my first days as a new mommy and want to capture them for you. Not just as a snapshot but to truly show the emotion and the details. To remind you in only one, two or three months time just how tiny your little one truly was, because you do forget quicker than you think you will.
So many of my newborns this year were also the “first babies” of the family. It has truly been an honor and a privilege going through this journey with you. Hearing your birth or hospital stories, sharing my own in tidbits in your session. Going from the person that was hearing “careful it goes fast” to hearing myself say “I know it’s cliché, but it really floes by”. I’ve loved connecting with you mom’s in this way. Also love when I’d do a late night bottle feed and see one of you commented or messaged me on Instagram and knowing we are all up and all going though this together in some weird connected way.
Leading up to the arrival of our own little guy I had three very special newborns and all three of these sweet babies have left an imprint on my heart. Within weeks of delivering my own your three sessions, Hazel, Peter and Baker were so unique. You filled me with so much excitement. Seeing you moms hold your sweet babies and telling me your own stories quelled fears I had. It made worries turn into such excitement. It’s hard to describe just how surreal it was so be photographing your sweet babies while simultaneously feeling my own little guy kick and wiggle. He was not a fan of some of the crouching and squatting I generally do in a session in the very end! Witnessing your love as parents for your babies knowing I had only a matter of days before I was doing so myself was truly magical.
To the babies that came shortly after my own. You were the first few I walked into and truly felt confident holding and posing in a way I never had before. I suddenly had a new outlook on how I wanted to capture you with your families. I had new confidence that I was ready to show in my images. You sweet babies also were a reminder to me how quickly time was passing. You were the reason I would come straight home and pick up my Little Logan and hold him a bit tighter. Sniff his sweet head and smother him in more kisses.
To the big brothers and sisters of this year. You guys were all spectacular. It is not easy being the big brother or sister, spoken like a big sister myself. Suddenly there’s a new little person in your home and they take a lot of the attention!
I like to tell my returning clients the same thing, at both their first and second newborn sessions. The first newborn session is about the baby. The first born. We work around their sleeping pattern, eating schedule etc. The second newborn session (usually a year or two later) is ALSO about that first baby. You now have a toddler and a newborn, and one of then is a lot easy to appease in front of my camera than the other. The newborn will likely just sleep while the now toddler older sibling may not want to sit still for long. They may need a snack break. They may want to hold their favorite stuffy in the photo. They will either be elated to hold or help hold their sibling, or they will want nothing to do with them at all. We work around the bigger kid(s). Let’s keep them happy as long as we need to and then let them go and have a snack and watch their favorite cartoon.
To all the families that trusted me this year to capture their sweet babies. Thank you. It’s an honor to be invited into your homes during this special, yet chaotic time in your lives. Thank you for allowing me to love on your sweet children and try to freeze these special moments for you to cherish forever. I will never grow tired of creating magic from what you will remember as some of the most exhausting days of your lives.
Special thank you though to my own, at one time, 8 pound 13 ounce precious newborn, Logan Alexander. You’ve given me so many reasons to pull out my camera this past year. You’ve turned everyday moments into memories I want to capture as beautifully as I can and save for you someday. 24 hours post C-Section it was wanting to capture you as new as possible that got me up and moving around to photograph you in the hospital. You’ve shown me a side of life that is so beautiful and so worthy of remembering. Thank you for being my greatest muse, and thank you in advance for the many many years you still have to put up with me photographing you. You’ve not only made me a better person by being in my world but I truly believe you’ve made me a better photographer too.
