Question: Are there poses I should make sure are included in my newborn photo session?
Answer: Yes, definitely! I recommend photos of your new baby alone, photos of all the details, and photos of them with you, too!
Newborn Photo Shoots Don’t Have to be Just Baby
I usually start out posts about newborn sessions with a congratulations – because adding a member to your family IS cause for celebration! So in other words… congrats. Whether this is your first little one, or you’re growing an already existing clan, this is a big deal, that’s worthy of documenting. The newborn phase goes by FAST, and being able to look back at it is worth its weight in gold. Even though I guess “looking back” is a concept, not something you can weigh, but you get my point!
Having Photos WITH You Is Important Too!
And that’s not always easy to remember…
When it comes to newborn photography sessions, a lot of parents are so focused on images of their baby, that they forget the other factors. AKA… YOU. And I mean it makes sense, right? You’ve got a new baby, your life is changing (whether you’re already a parent or not) and it’s really, really easy to kind of forget about yourself. Life isn’t ABOUT just you anymore – it’s about your family. So when you schedule newborn photos, people tend to think all about their little one, and documenting THEM. And that’s normal, and okay!
But like I said, it’s not all about the baby. It’s about ALL of you. It’s about you, and your partner, and your other kiddos, if your new baby has siblings. And I personally think those relationships are incredibly important to highlight in your newborn photo session, whether it happens in your home, or here in the Jessica Strobel Photography studio.
Three Poses You Can’t Miss in Your Newborn Photo Session
For newborn photos that capture the WHOLE picture
So what does that mean? Well, it means a lot for the poses that are included in your session, and the things to think about beforehand! For example… if you’re just having images of your baby taken, you don’t always think about what you’re wearing to the session. And let’s all be honest, as new parents, you don’t think about what you’re wearing in general. Who has time for that, when you’re on like two hours of interrupted sleep a night? And even if you ARE by some miracle getting good sleep, you just straight up have new priorities now, and that’s okay. But celebrating YOU and how much you’ve grown and changed is as important as focusing on your new little one.
And this has impacts on the poses I recommend for newborn photo sessions! Because while it’s so incredibly important to document your new baby, it’s also important to document YOU.
1 – Simple Sleeping Poses
Obviously in any list of must-have newborn photo session poses, we have to think about poses that capture your little one all on their own. And for sessions that take place in the ideal window for newborn photos (before baby’s fifth week with your family), that means capturing magical, sleepy, classic photos of your baby. Whether they’re posed in a cot in the studio, or in their own cradle in your home, these photos are timeless. They’re the traditional photos to capture during a newborn session, and you can’t miss them! No matter what photographer you work with for your newborn photos, they’re going to make sure you have plenty of these images in your post-session gallery.
But if your newborn session ends here… you’ve still got work to do.
2 – All The Tiny Details!
The next set of photos you definitely need to make sure are captured of your little one, are detail-oriented photos. Obviously sleeping images of your baby might have their tiny toes. They might have their itty-bitty eyelashes. But what about focusing on these features themselves? Babies grow SO fast, like everyone says – and their squishy cheeks are only going to be that squishy for so long. So you should make sure you have photos of that little wisp of hair on their forehead, and their tiny fingers, and the pout of their lips when they’re dreaming.
Being able to look back at these tiny details is just as important as being able to look back at their entire little selves.
3 – Parents & Siblings Holding Baby
And once you’ve captured both photos of baby alone, and photos of all the little details that make having a newborn so magical… it’s time to include others in the party! That means you, and your other kiddos, if your baby has older siblings. It can also include grandparents, depending on how you want to format your session! When you work with Jessica Strobel Photography, we make sure that we create sessions that work with you, and FOR you. So if you want to include extended family in your newborn session, all you have to do is ask, and we’ll make it happen!
If you want to stick with immediate family, there are other bonuses to that though. The newborn phase isn’t just hard for parents, it’s also hard for siblings. I mean, they have to adjust to your attention changing, to there being another person (however small) in their house – and if they were an only child before your baby’s birth, they have to adjust to not being the focus anymore. Not because you love them any less, but because… well, let’s face it, we’re human, and we only have two hands. We can only do so many things at once. And there are SO many things to do at once when you have a newborn.
So including siblings in a newborn session is a powerful way to remind your older children that not only are they still so, incredibly loved, they’re also still a priority. This session isn’t about just the baby – it’s about all of you. It’s about your family. And they’re included in that too, of course! So during your newborn session, capture poses of baby with both parents, AND with their siblings.
Newborn Photos Don’t Have To Be Complicated!
And at Jessica Strobel Photography… They don’t have to be!
Let’s all be honest here, scheduling newborn sessions can feel like a chore, especially in a time in your life when everything is pretty all over the place. You’re figuring out the parenting thing, or figuring out having more than one kiddo – or just… figuring things out. And photos are understandably not always a priority, and I get that. But they SHOULD be. And that’s why I pay so much attention to making sure the process is as easy as possible for you, so that you can come away from your session with images that help you remember your little one, every detail about them, AND the way your family as a whole has changed.
So if you’re looking for someone to capture your newborn photos, who gets it, and who will hold your hand and make it just SO easy… let’s talk! I would love to create a session for you, whether that session includes just your baby, you and your baby, or you, your parents, your other kids, and the new family member! Because I believe you should be able to remember EVERY detail. After all, that’s what photography is all about, right?
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