A Slice of Life Documentary Approach
This sweet family was referred to me by one of my oldest and best clients in San Diego, Amy and Ryan, for their newborn lifestyle session. The biggest compliment one can pay me is to refer a good friend to me. I’m incredibly grateful for the word of mouth referrals that come my way. After this family inquired with me, I met them at their house to show them my fine art samples and we talked about my photo-journalistic approach to newborn sessions.
I explained how my style is more of a combination of documentary and lifestyle photography. While some images are purely candid, some are definitely more staged so that we get the best lighting for the scene. Photographing with this “slice of life” approach results in beautiful, organic, and natural images that tell a story. Also, it was really great to be able to meet with them at their house so that I could assess the light in their nursery and their master bedroom. And, since they were able to touch and feel my fine art samples they already had some ideas for what kind of heirloom artwork they wanted to have from their newborn session.
The Session & Heirloom Art
Their session lasted for about three hours, which is pretty much the norm for newborn lifestyle sessions. People are often surprised that we need to set aside between 2.5 – 3.5 hours of time for this, but between feedings, changing diapers/clothes, and naps, three hours goes by very quickly. These tiny little humans need frequent breaks to eat and sleep. I am always patient with these sessions in order to ensure we capture enough images to tell a story. One of the benefits of waiting until baby is a few months old for her portrait session is that she will be more aware/awake. This means she will be more interactive with Mom and Dad, which hopefully leads to some smiles. Thankfully, we were able to capture some smiles from this gorgeous baby girl.
One of my favorite parts of the session was when we ended with them doing one of her favorite activities – they read her favorite books “On the Night you were born” and “I’ll Love You Forever”. I loved watching how enchanted she was with their voices, the story, and the pictures. This kind of newborn lifestyle session creates images that make gorgeous wall art. These images are also a beautiful way to fill a fine art album that portrays a slice of life for your family. This family chose a beautiful set of framed wall prints from this session, a matted image folio, and an album. See the beautiful set of large framed prints and image folio at the end of this blog post. Thank you to this beautiful family for inviting me into their home to capture such a special time in their lives. It was such an honor to be chosen to capture their beautiful life together and help them create beautiful printed heirloom art for their family.
Interested in chatting with me about your newborn lifestyle session? Please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!