STYLING Suggestions for
in-home Newborn Sessions
• Aim for relaxed and casual - too dressy will seem strange with the in-home setting. No shoes and socks is best for in-home photography.
• Choose neutral OR natural tones - either a nature inspired palette with deep earthy greens, creams, and browns with pops of colour, or else pale pastels and off-whites, depending on your family's taste (you want your photographs to look and feel like you).
• Varied textures are super evocative, such as denim, wool, linen, lace, corduroy, and cotton.
• If you like to wear dresses, long and flowing are best. Solid colours work well, or a pattern where the detail is small, rather than large and bold.
• If you don't typically wear dresses, I suggest you don't wear one - choose something that feels most YOU for a result that will make you happiest.
• If you're bodyfeeding, select something that's feeding friendly.
• For those identifying as male, t-shirts or button ups (whichever they normally wear) in a solid neutral colour - beige, olive, creams, or blues - and a plain, neat short or pant. Avoid logos or graphics.
• Avoid black, navy, and dark grey, as these tones will photograph dark and will likely clash with babe, who is often in light tones.
• For newborns, keep it simple and classic. Have a plain onesie on hand, or some sweet and simple bloomers. The simpler the better for newborn clothing.
• Avoid anything too frilly, dresses, and anything with a graphic on the front. Also avoid zipped suits, as the zips are bulky and don't photograph well.
• Choose something footless so we can photograph babe's toes.
• As a final suggestion, I would urge you not to match the kids, but rather to have them in complimentary clothing - items that work well together while not being identical.
• Avoid anything with branding, logos or large graphics, as these will distract from your little ones' lovely faces.
• Make sure kids are wearing something that feels comfortable to them, and that they're happy and excited to wear - comfy kids are happy kids.
• Remember these are guidelines and suggestions only; I want you to feel and look like yourselves, so consider these suggestions and disregard whatever doesn't work for you.
You know you best, and these photographs are for YOU, not for me.
Suggestions for a smooth session
Ideally, baby should be in the outfit you've picked out for the session and sleeping with a full tummy when I arrive, enabling us to shower the toddler or other big siblings with love and attention, making the family photos all about them.
This requires that in the half hour before I'm due to arrive, baby should be dressed and offered a top up feed, ensuring baby is happily sleeping when I arrive.
Please ensure at least one room of the house is warmed - if you’re hoping to get photographs of baby sleeping out of arms, and out of a swaddle, wrap or blanket, at least one room should be ‘uncomfortably warm for adult humans’.
Parent(s) should be comfortable in short sleeves at the beginning of the session, the idea behind that being we'll need to be able to place baby down - unwrapped - without them realising they're no longer being snuggled.
When we attempt to photograph babies unwrapped in a cool space, the result is imagery of a wakeful, unhappy baby, with flailing limbs and wild, please-rescue-me eyes.
I also suggest preparing the master bedroom in plain and patternless linen in a color you love, so if we lie baby on the bed the linen doesn't distract from baby. It doesn't have to be a neutral colour, unless that's your taste and style.
