I first worked with Adam & Melanie when they were expecting their first baby boy. They chose to enroll in our First Year Collection membership and we photographed his newborn, 4 month, 8 month, and First Birthday sessions at our old studio location. I was so excited to hear from them again requesting to book another First Year Collection for their second baby… and this time it was a girl!!!
WHEN SHOULD I RESERVE OUR SESSION?
In a nutshell: It is NEVER too early to book!
Most expectant mamas are busy with all things baby prep, but it’s so important to make it a priority to book your session! Clients typically reach out to us early in the second trimester to make sure that they have a spot on our calendar, and a lot of our clients inform us in their first trimester if they’re comfortable doing so.
IMPORTANT: Reserving your session is NOT scheduling your exact session date!
It is impossible to predict the day your baby will be born or how your labor & delivery experience will go. When you reserve your session, you are guaranteeing that we will have room for you - and we will schedule your exact session date when you let us know that baby has arrived!
I only have the capacity to accept a limited number of newborns due in each month. Doing this ensures that I am able deliver my unparalleled level of service to each of my clients. Once I reach the monthly newborn cap, I sometimes maintain a wait list.
Please don’t panic if you’re reading this and baby is already here! Because our reserved newborns often arrive earlier or later than their estimated due dates, so there are some months I have the ability to take on a last minute newborn session. Contact us right away to see if we can squeeze you in!
NEWBORN SESSIONS WITH AN OLDER SIBLING INVOLVED
When older siblings are participating in a newborn session, we always check on what their nap schedule (if they take one) is! We want them to be well rested and as happy as possible!
I start newborn sessions in the morning between 9:00 and 10 AM, with the first 90 minutes of session time devoted to photographing your baby alone. This is the perfect time for you to take advantage of our add on hair and makeup services since you’ll be sitting on the couch doing nothing anyway while I photograph your baby. So, you might as well treat yourself to some pampering. ;) Melanie has worked with one of our HMUA’s for ALL of her sessions, so this was a no brainer for her. PS: our First Year Collection members enjoy quite a few perks - so be sure to ask about those!
Older siblings and partners arrive about 90 minutes after I’ve gotten started with baby only. This keeps your toddler happy at home, and chaos at a minimum. ;)
When the family arrived, I took Bea out of her carseat and got started right away while Melanie got settled into the hair and makeup chair for her services. I already had a selection of dresses that I had pulled out for her waiting for her review. Once I’ve worked with clients a couple of times I have a very good sense of their style and know what will work well for them skin tone and fit wise! I’ve even been shopping for studio dresses and thought of very specific clients when purchasing it for the client wardrobe. 9 times of out 10 at their next session I pull it out and the client LOVES it and choose to wear it. I was pretty confident she would LOVE and choose the gorgeous lace off the shoulder dress option, and I was right!
Bea was the most beautiful little girl with a FULL head of hair, and such a great sleeper! She looked nothing like her brother did as a newborn. The genetic lottery always fascinates me and I love seeing if siblings share any features or just look like totally different little people. I have three children of my own, and they all share the exact same eye color and a very similar eye shape that people comment on all the time. They get their eye color from their dad!
NEWBORN SESSION FLOW WITH YOUR FAMILY
Bea was awake when Adam and Hank arrived, which was totally fine. There is no need to worry if your baby is awake! I actually love alert babies for family images and sometimes we get lucky with a family photo of everyone actually looking at the camera. Awake babies are not a problem at all to photograph as long as they’re also calm. If your baby is awake and NOT calm, don’t stress. We’ll figure out how to get them there. Sometimes they just need another feed, a diaper change, or some extra snuggles.
Baby safety is my FIRST priority during sessions. I won’t place a newborn near their toddler sibling if they are not able to be calm and still and follow direction Every toddler is different, and therefore every session will look different. I’ll assess how your older child is doing when deciding which types of photos can be accomplished safely.
Since Hank was not yet 2, and quite the wiggle worm, I quickly assessed that we would not be able to have them close to each other. I was able to safely photograph a few different setups regardless though!. What you can’t see in the photographs with just Hank & Bea is that their parents were inches away from them ready to swoop in and intervene if the need arose. Taking risks with your baby’s safety is not something I do. From there, we moved into family images with Melanie and Adam holding Bea and inviting Hank to interact with her, and ended with individual parent images as well as some of just Bea with her parents. Your first baby has photos with just the two of you, so your second baby deserves some of those too!
WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER YOUR NEWBORN SESSION
We keep it easy for our clients! About a week after their session, Hank & Melanie viewed their proof gallery and chose their images. Because they are members of our First Year Plan, they’ll be designing an album with some framed artwork at the end of Bea’s first year so the only decisions they make right now for each session is which images to keep!
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you are expecting a new baby and are interested in reserving a session with us, we would absolutely LOVE to chat with you about your family, what we offer, and how we can best serve you. Contact us today to set up a time to chat on the phone. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Enjoy some of my favorites from Bea’s session!
If you're expecting a baby or already a parent and looking for a newborn, maternity, or family photographer, I would love to work with you to create images that you will love for a lifetime. Watch this video to hear about my philosophy and see how I work in the studio so you can determine if I'm the right fit for you. I can't wait to meet you!
Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and family photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.
