You most likely came across newborn photography a few times. Your friends posted some photos of their tiny babies on Facebook, you may have had a session with your baby, when they were only a week old. It’s becoming a mainstream early milestone, and you may get frowned upon if you don’t have one done. From a business point of view of course all the frowning works for me, as I want you to be my client. From a personal point of view, as a mother myself, I want you to have those memories to look back on, and never regret not capturing those first moments, when everything was tiny, and your babies were not after new football boots and a puppy for Christmas. You never want to forget those details.

After that we have a crazy whirlwind of a year, ending up with a cake smash to celebrate your baby’s first birthday and a first big milestone. I believe this “tradition” of smashing cake and rubbing icing all over ones face came from the States. No doubt it will soon be banished there if any props are made in Mexico.

Cake smashes are fun. You get your babies’ character show through. They laugh, they cry, they scream sometimes. It’s fun. We have cake, we have nice, party setups, we have balloons. I love it. Kids love it.

Then somewhere between, we have the sitter session.

What is a sitter session? Is it worth capturing?

Sitters are babies between 6 and 12 months who can sit up unsupported. The session is a portrait session, with no cake, no bath, no balloons (unless those are requested). We have a family part, where I will have you with your baby, family portraits if you’d like to include siblings, and parents with our model on their own if requested. Most of the session, however, is about our main model. There are no distractions.

I believe babies make the best art. They are perfect in their eternity and usually that’s all we need. If our model is in a great mood, they may give us plenty of smiles, too, which is always amazing! We aim for those.

If they are not particularly happy on the day, that’s not a problem. Just like us, they have their moods and we respect that.

Unlike during a newborn shoots, where parents can relax with a cup of coffee for a few hours, sitter sessions (and cake smash sessions alike) will have you engaged more than you can imagine. Those sessions are very hands on. I always recommend coming with either a partner, or if they are not available, with a friend or member of your family who makes you baby smile. One of you will be constantly next to the baby, for security in case they decide to “flop”. Sitting up unsupported at this age is taxing!

The other person will be right beside me, doing whatever it takes in order to get the attention of our model. It may be singing, it may be dancing. We had some very creative parents for the sessions, some very talented singers indeed, and creative freestylers, coming up with a make shift puppet shows. Anything goes and if you are unlucky enough, I may even sing.

The session usually takes 45 minutes to an hour, and in order to have an awesome outcome, the most important thing is for my model to get a really good nap beforehand. There is nothing worse than a tired toddler.

If our model is not impressed with us all together, we can arrange a reshoot session, which is always free of charge. We aim for a great gallery of images you will be happy to look back on, but more than anything images that capture our baby’s character. We are responsible for writing our children’s biography in those early years, and having a memory of those early days is a big part of it.

Unless a particular styling has been requested, we will mostly photograph your little superstar in a neutral surrounding, with very few props, and a timeless colour scheme.

You can view the packages and prices for the sitter sessions on our website.

For enquiries and bookings, email maggie@dinkyfeet.co.uk