Bump to Babe
Its crazy how much your body changes in 9 months right! Capturing it just helps relive the feeling and I am so glad you are doing it. Your maternity session can be anything you want it to be. I can be your chance to fully embrace the amazing thing your body is doing. You can get nude and capture your body in its rawest state or you can stay fully clothed or go somewhere in the middle, the choice is yours. Either way you and your photos will be beautiful.
Studio sessions are a little bit more intimate as apposed to a sunset session, sunsets are usually done if you have older kids already, gives them a little more room to run and be themselves. Studio sessions are good for first time mums and maybe one toddler.
At the beginning of your studio session we will discuss your clothing choices, whether you want to do full nude, topless or just belly out etc. I have a wardrobe full of stunning dresses and robes for your session. All you need to bring is your underwear. Cream/nude and a cute set if you wish. If you have any dresses or anything you want to bring to your session just let me know and we can work it in. Also if you have any special ideas that you wanna try that you haven't seen me do before I am definitely down to bring your idea to life so let me know. For Dads, just a plain earth coloured Tee or linen shirt will be perfect.
Once we get started I will explain and demonstrate each pose and get you into position, now sometimes one pose doesn't work on 2 different people so if I'm just staring at you like a weirdo not saying anything ๐ I'm usually just thinking about how I can change the pose to suit you.
If you are having your partner/toddler at your maternity session will will add them in here and there. Dad's are pretty much props, which usually suits them just fine because they don't really want to do it anyway, typical man right ๐ They are there for hands to hold your belly, touch your face or sweep your hair from your face. There isn't much "looking at the camera" unless of course that's what you want.
We generally do a standard set of "poses" and then we move on to some fun stuff if you are up for it. During the poses you might feel a little silly but just let go and have fun. I will be there laughing along with you. I find myself saying one thing a lot during a session and its "font think about it just do it'. For example I'll say hold your belly, fake laugh and lean slightly forward, now the more you think about it the weirder you'll feel no doubt but if you just go with it you'll be surprised. Below is an example of what you'll get if you just let go and trust the process.
Your session is all about celebrating you, be you, let your personality shine. Have fun, trust me and be amazed at how truely beautiful and amazing you are.
After your session you will have your gorgeous gallery delivered to you about 1 week after your session. I usually post a few photos from your session on my instagram stories after as I am editing and then after your session is delivered I usually do a post with a few favs on my feed. Your session will also be blogged on the website with a few more than instagram.
A quick note on social media, I post what my clients allow. If you want nude/semi nude photos because you love the way they look but dont want to do them because you are worried they will end up on social media, dont be. All you have to say is I'm happy for photos to be posted just not nude ones or not nude ones that contain my face or whatever.
Toddlers!!!! OMG Toddlers they can make or break you and over the 10 years photographing families I quickly learnt that if a toddler doesn't want to then a toddler isn't going to really no matter how much we beg. I have however learnt a few tricks along the way to gentle entice them to participate.
I am not against bribery so if you are let me know. I have even paid a toddler (another photographers kid of all toddlers) $1.20 to have a photo with her sister. Now I'm not going to go straight to paying ya kid ๐ but I will try and talk to your toddler in order to make them feel comfortable with me. Having said that if you guys aka mum and dad have tried everything to get your toddler to do what you want I will then try and have you guys go and sit and relax for a minute and leave the toddler to me and we will just hang out and chat and I will casually just ask "hey do you wanna give your baby a kiss" or "come and tickle sisters toes" or whatever it may be to get your toddler near the baby. Sometimes this one on one leads to them having a cuddle and looking all proud as punch sometimes they still dont want a bar of it and that is totally ok and we can take a break. My sessions are either baby led or toddler led so do not stress if your toddler isn't participating. I won't promise you picture perfect portraits but I will promise some interaction with your newborn and you'll love it.
More on toddlers. As you know toddlers have short attention span and can get the shits pretty quick if they are confined to a space were they can't touch or run around. So in order to combat this we do the family and sibling photos first then after that is done Dad can take your toddler either home if you love close or to the park. I live in Grangewood so there is a little shopping centre down the road, you'll pass it on your way into Delroy Park, where you can get a milkshake and a snack or you would go for a walk around the pond in Delroy park. This way mum can sit back and relax for an hour without worrying. If Dad is super keen and wants to stay and watch the newborn portraits just get grandma or someone to get the toddler if you want. And of course if you don't have that option or if you just want to keep your toddler with you that's totally fine just bring something that they enjoy to keep them occupied for an hour or so.
How the session runs!
When you first arrive I will get you to pop all your things over by the client lounge and to take off all your shoes. We will then choose mummas outfit. Our first set is everyone on the cane lounge snuggling together. I like to start with this because its easy and natural. I will shoot the whole family and then the toddler once they have warmed up to me. We then can do mum and bub, dad and bub and then just bub on their own. I tend to use mum a bit more during the session then I do dad only because I know in the months to come your camera roll will be full of photos of dad and bub and sibling and bub and very few of you.
The most important thing when participating in the newborn session is don't be afraid of your baby. So many times I see Dads holding bub when they first arrive and they look calm and natural but as soon as they step in front of my camera they look like I'm about to torture them ๐ My number one tip is relax. There is nothing that you can do that is wrong, well with the exception of turning away from the light. All you have to do is hold your baby, love on your baby and make sure you do it all facing the light, easy right.
After your session just like with the maternity session I will post on social media and your gallery will be ready within a week, well actually it depends on bubs skin as to how long it takes. Clear skin with no touch ups required and your gallery will be delivered within the week. Babies requiring scratch or blemish removal will take longer but never longer then 2 weeks.
Hopefully I have covered everything but as always if there's any questions about absolutely anything just sing out. Happy to help.
I am so excited to work with you ๐ค