You may have come across a lot of colourful, fancy photo props when researching newborn poses prior to your session (yup, most of us have a Pinterest board with cute baby photo ideas). Whether we’ve got a professional newborn photography session booked or not, most of us want to take our own baby photos as well. There is nothing wrong with that. We capture moments that are going to have a meaning for us on a personal level, and that’s great. Sometimes we want to take funny pics, so we buy fancy newborn outfits with quotes printed on them. Sometimes we buy big, fluffy hats and crocheted pants, and there is nothing wrong with that either. There is time and place for everything. Well, almost everything.

In the time I spend taking photos of newborns professionally, I have encountered many excited parents, who come to me wanting to capture those first few days after their new baby joined their family. Their tiny feet with the little flakes of skin, their dinky fingers, curled up forcefully, the first patchy bits of hair, their soft, blotchy but perfect skin, birth marks and little folds on their legs. They say kids grow up fast not without a reason. Those tiny toes and button like nose will never be the same again. Why then, if we would like to keep those memories alive in our photos, would we want to cover them with the latest fashionable photo prop?

I take many photos of babies wearing tiny pants, to keep their dignity. I occasionally enjoy photographing newborns being wrapped (mostly if they are little dancers and refuse to cooperate), but my primary aim is to capture your baby in a way you see them now, even if this means leaving a flake of skin on show here or there.

Another thing I would like to mention is the amount of editing I do on your babies photo. I can make you session look very polished and “picture perfect”, but with skin smoothed to the maximum and eyes brightened beyond belief, their uniqueness will be lost.

With that being said, I am not claiming your photos are going to reach you untouched. The average editing time after each session varies between 6 to 8 hours. I do however try and leave the very things that make your baby YOUR baby as close to the actual way they look as possible. If there are lines and creases on their feel, I will not polish them to make sure they look perfect. If there are birth marks on their body, I won’t remove them unless you specifically request me to. It’s not because I want to make my job easier (and quicker), it’s because as a mum myself, I would never want those details erased.

I can add a huge bow and a crochet mermaid outfit, but it’s going to cover all those details that make our babies one of a kind. Twenty years from now, looking back at those photos would you like to remember the amazing Photoshop skills of your newborn photographer, or would you rather remember.. your baby?