"I offer everything but newborns"...
That quickly changed when Winston was born early March. Winston's mom and dad are friends of my boyfriend and I's from their adult baseball league. Shout out Ohio Phillies. They are truly the best friends. During their proposal (which Katie didn't know about of course), it was a day full of emotion, we were so happy for them. Little did we know they also had a surprise for us and announced they were pregnant. WHAT?! Throughout the entire pregnancy, Katie expressed many times that I was going to do his newborn pictures whether I liked it or not. And honestly thankful she pushed that on me LOL.
We started with an in-home newborn session which I spent an hour and a half in shoot time and only produced 15 good images. And I wasn't happy with them (well like 2 of them I liked). And that's the realness of learning a new trade: it honestly was more difficult than a normal session, and frustrating when I couldn't get the swaddle tight enough. Real & raw moments. I learned a lot from that first session. I always stayed away from newborns because I knew they were so fragile and it's always someone else's kid. My newborn mentor has kids of her own and has been through it multiple times. She assured me that they are fragile but you gotta do what you need: Lifting their head to put a hat/tie-back on, squeezing them in the swaddle, and so on. From doing it on my own session and friend's kid, it felt a little easier. But Winston is definitely a feisty one.
Surprise!
Getting in the Studio
Relying on natural light isn't always best for newborns: the light is uneven. Although these 2 images aren't bad (I know I am being hard on myself), the others, with an on camera flash, didn't have seamless light either. Knowing this I had to get him back in the studio. And we did for 4.5 hours. HA! I ordered all the cute props, although one was a fail, just for this session and hopefully more to come. I knew I had to get a bear because Winston's mommy loves Winnie the Pooh if you couldn't guess.
The first set was my failed prop. I bought a newborn posing stand and bean bag but the sizes didn't line up... whoops! Youtube to the rescue because it worked well enough! But so difficult to get him how I wanted. Thank goodness for blankets and posing beans, and maybe mom's hand. The second set, the bed 😍. I have kept these wooden floor mats in hopes I would use them again someday and so glad I did. It was perfect for the wooden bed setup. Winston definitely took a bear nap (after 3 feedings). In between sets, we ordered DoorDash because I needed to eat or else I was going to get cranky, just like the baby. We gotta do what we need to! After that we moved on to the last set. I had Winston in a couple of different wooden baskets with a swaddle. No joke, the I tried the swaddle 15 different times and had to have mom do it. I think I am going to have to buy a reborn doll and practice in my sleep, whew! Definitely not perfect. Also didn't help he is already like the Hulk and had no wish to be held down.
The next steps...
Bet you didn't think this would change, but I am willing to do more newborn sessions. I have only done one and can only get better from here. I hope to do a few of my clients coming up that all seem to be having boys as well. Just be prepared to sit with me for over 2 hours 😂. Katie called me today and was crying about how much she loved the images, especially the one where he is awake (my fav too). "Add it to the site right now".
Also note, Winston is not going anywhere and he is now my model (no choice).
The props
