Jay Saunders Photography, Newborn Photographer Essex

As a newborn photographer in Essex, I am often asked, what does a newborn session actually involve? How long does the session take, an hour? Surely it’s just click click click? Eeerrrr kinda.

Therefore, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain in more detail, what goes on from the booking stage, to the day of the shoot itself, to help anyone who has either booked a session with me or thinking of booking.

From the initial contact, you will be booked in with your due date. We then use this date as a guide for your session. Don’t stress if your baby arrives early, or you are overdue, I only book in a certain amount of newborn sessions each month to allow for this.

The next time we will be in touch, is when baby has arrived!! From that point, we can start planning your session and really tailor everything to your style and home. I have loads of lovely wall art options displayed in the studio, so we can plan your session to ensure these pieces will go perfectly with your decor. All my props are sourced from the bespoke newborn vendors and safety approved for newborn photography.

I always encourage clients to send images of mine that you like, so I get a feel of what you like.

The day is finally here, eeekk!

You would have been sent a preparation guide beforehand for hints and tips to help prepare for the session. Once you arrive, all of your selected items will already have been picked out for you and while you feed baby, I will give you a quick run through of how the session is going to work.
Although we all have our favourite images and poses, my sessions are 100% baby led, not all babies like to go into certain poses and I will never force a baby to if they don’t feel comfortable. So although I would have picked out props to use, I will explain that we may not be able to use them all.

So why 2-4 hours?
Once you arrive baby will need feeding, I will then make you a nice cup of tea and from that point you can relax. The studio will be around 26 degrees, so please make sure you where layers incase you get too hot, but don’t worry this is a perfect temperature for a naked newborn!
Some babies might take a while to feed, or need feeding more than once during the session (babies tend to feed more frequently during a newborn session due to the heat and because they are moving around a lot more), some babies wake very easily and some prefer to be wrapped nice and cosy. There is no rush, I want the studio to be as calm as possible.

…. Or you can spend 10 minutes posing a baby in the most beautiful position, mum says “Oh I love this one, its my favourite so far” then they move (hee hee)… so many of my clients leave telling me that I have so much patience, but you have to in this industry, I can see what the finished image is going to look like and I AM GOING TO GET THAT IMAGE THAT YOU LOVE! Ha ha

I usually begin with sibling images, so they don’t have to wait for the duration of the session – its far to hot in the studio for young children to be in for a long period and they would much prefer to go for a walk or to the local park! Family portraits can also be done straight after the sibling images or towards the end.

Fast forward a few hours, your all relaxed (and slightly sweaty) and we are done.

Read my next blog post about what happens next… and if you have any suggestions or questions for what you would like to see me blog about please leave a comment below.