Posts Tagged: Wilkesboro NC Newborn Photography
newborn portraits | what really happens?
Earlier this week, I wrote about how setting realistic expectations for your newborn portrait session is important. And it is, but don’t let that deter you from scheduling and having a portrait session when they are so young. Some of the most beautiful portraits we take are not always of brides, but of the newest creatures to join us on this spinning planet. More importantly: we’re ready! We know what we’re doing and we’re ready to go. Don’t worry!
So, what really happens during newborn photo sessions?
Well, for starters, the sessions don’t flow from pose to pose and set to set, as I’m sure you’ve already imagined. We’re dealing with fresh little beings who have been breathing on their own for only about 10 days. They don’t know about lighting, where to look or to remain still, because they are little tubes. Breast milk or formula goes in and poop comes out. In the middle they stare, cry and sleep.
A newborn session can take up to four hours. During that span, our camera is not up with the shutter clicking away, because, as mentioned, newborns babies are entirely unpredictable. We never know when or how often they will cry, sleep, eat or need a diaper change and all those things tend to take the most amount of time during our session. A fraction of the 4 hours is spent capturing images, but don’t worry, we tend to get the magic because we know what to look for and when to seize a moment.
To get those cute cuddly curled up newborn photos, our portrait session needs to take place within the first 10 days after birth. An exception to this would be premies and Moms who are recovering from a c-section. While there are breaks for diaper changes, feedings and tears, newborns at this early, early stage, do tend to be more receptive to cuddled and curled poses and will drift off to sleep while we orbit around them.
Inspiration & Props
At our Pixels studio, we have lots of props, wraps, hats, bows and head bands. New parents have enough to think about without having to bring a lot of extra stuff with them. You don’t need to bring any special outfits or props unless there is something specific you want incorporated. We ask that parents send us photos of the nursery or any other part of the house where they will be hanging the portraits so that we can coordinate props to match. All of our studio props and wardrobe items are cleaned after each session.
Studio Space
Our studio is also clean, cozy and extra warm for newborns. We have a convenient changing table and if you’re a nursing Mom, we’re prepared for that as well with a clean boppy and a private comfy chair for you. Ryan and I have been doing this for a long while and have been prepared since the beginning. Now that we have our son Finley, I’m proud of the accommodations we provide for newborn portrait sessions.
Here are a few tips and suggestions that I email our clients prior to the session:- Give your baby a bath and lather him or her in lotion and bring the lotion with you. This will help condition any peeling skin.
- Keep your baby awake before the session if possible. We know this can often be tricky during the car ride, but do your best.
- We want you to bring us a hungry baby! When you arrive he/she will be ready for food and a nap. Those sleeping angels make the best portraits. Try not to feed for a few hours before arrival. Feeding when you arrive at the studio will ensure that he/she will drift off to sleep and be most cooperative to being posed and photographed.
- If you are nursing, there is a list of foods that we recommend you avoid for 48 hours before your session that will help keep your baby from being gassy or fussy during the session.
The most important thing to us is that you get photos of your sweet child that you will cherish. That only happens when we make you feel comfortable, free to move around depending on what the baby needs and completely supported. Believe me, you are!
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2018 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Fatherhood ~ portraits and musings
“Beyond the need for sleep, my frustrations come from not knowing what makes him cry. He can be clean and fed and still fussy, and it’s hard as a guy to not be able to fix it. Patience is still top of the list for what we need for both parenting and photographing OUR newborn. You’ve got to be ready at any moment for that one thing to be amazing and on your toes when its time to capture it, whether with a camera or with your memory which will last just as long or longer. Having cameras to capture is great, but sometimes just being in the moment is way better.”
It’s hard – even when sleeping in ridiculously small increments – we’re drowning in grace and gratitude and constant epiphany. This parenting thing surpasses every other thing we’re doing. To Daddies out there – we love you.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Meet the New Case – our newborn son
I’m obsessed with his cheeks. I know, but I ask for no leniency, Judge! From the moment I could see them in the ultrasound pics, so plump and round, I was enamored. They’re even more adorable in person. Close runners up are his lips, fingers, toes… well everything. So there’s the love affair portion of this which is the vast majority of it when I intellectualize it.
But there’s the exhaustion too and it’s what we all think about with newborns: the absolute lack of sleep. We’ve learned how much a person can do with so little sleep. It’s astonishing, really, but I don’t want to make a habit out of it. I’m amazed at how quickly days turn to nights and the nights are so very very hard. But when he’s awake and serene – God help me, he’s perfect.
What is not serene and perfect is postpartum depression. I thought about not mentioning it, but what is the point of sharing if I’m not going to be honest and forthright. It is a very real thing and the internal struggle of hormones, body, intellect while tired and wanting to remember who you were and who you now are is dicey. I’m still very emotional and my body hasn’t healed. I’m not yet able to do everything I was doing before and pick up life where it left off. I know I’m only 41, but I’m 41, you know? There are times when I feel that God is taking this opportunity to show me how little in control I actually am. And for a person that’s always strived for independence and perfection this is a situation where I can do neither. It’s a hard lesson. I know I’m growing, but the patience part is not easy. If you’ve been through it, I send you a hug in my mind. I get it. Thank God for perspective and knowing how to take the long view.
Professionally, this session was a study in insight. We’ve been photographing babies for a long time and wanted to capture our own portraits of Finley. For once I felt what every Mom who comes into our studio with a newborn must feel. Anxiety when he cries and doesn’t cooperate, frustration when you are so close to having him settled for that perfect shot only to have him abruptly need to be fed; discouragement because you would think it would be easy to swaddle my own child… it’s harder. If anything, being a new Mom has helped me be a better newborn photographer rather than the other way around. 
Ryan and I never thought we would see each other in these roles. It’s showing us sides of each other and our marriage that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. The few hours (never sequential – ha!) that Finley is awake and alert are my favorite times of day these days. His eyes wander all around taking in every sight and sound. We are at the beginning and it’s crazy, but the Finley shaped hole in our lives was filled just in time and perfectly by this little dude.
Thank you for loving us. We know that that love extends to our son and it means more to us than we could ever express.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just bzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
“remind me what he looks like…”
A story that a friend shared with me that a chaplain once told her … sort of a parable – and a sweet one that comes to mind sometimes when I look down at my own son’s face – is about a little girl, aged 5, being told that she was going to be a big sister. No joy in Mudville for her, so to speak. She was not interested in the role or title of sister, not interested in a new companion, in sharing, in change and let her parents know it with her scowls and body English. She became disobedient and/or quiet and lost her own excitement about simple things. The couple hoped it would pass when the new baby arrived.
The baby was born – a little boy – and when the pair was introduced, she gazed at her little brother but wasn’t affectionate or warm. She mostly just stared at him.
Because the parents were trying to be good parents and had read books about siblings and parenting and the struggles that come with introducing a newborn to an established 5 year old with opinions and agendas, they kept an eye on her and were always careful to be near her when she was with her little brother. She never showed affection or interest; she was just watchful. She was always staring at him, they noticed. She never spoke to him.
One day, she asked her Mom and Dad if she could be alone with him in his crib, and warily they finally said yes. They cracked the door, though, so that they could watch her in case she decided to hurt him.
Through the crack in the door, they watched as she stood silently by his crib and gazed through the slats. Nothing happened for the first several minutes. Then she leaned in and they heard her say, “Hi, baby. Will you tell me what God looks like. I don’t remember.”
I love this story and the idea that babies are heavenly makes perfect sense to me. But it’s also a reminder that when we are far from God, we sometimes forget His face and His love for us. It’s in those times that a perfect little creature is sent to remind us.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
for the love of newborn babies
From the downiest bit of hair fluff that smells indescribably baby and yet something only J.R.R. Tolkien could describe – something elves or fairies make – to their feet that manage to wrap like rising pretzel dough – newborn babies are the closest thing to heaven. They are intoxicating, which is why you see mothers, aunts, grandmothers and countless others holding a newborn, then rolling their eyes into the back of their heads while sniffing and cuddling. You see a newborn being held, the head is supported, but mostly what they are doing is smelling that perfect newborn head scent of unadulterated yum.
The feet really are too much. There are wrinkles and ridiculously small nails and they twist and turn, based on how they were in utero, into impossible shapes that can fit in your mouth. Find a baby’s foot and maybe a little clarified butter (and a decoy) and you’ve got snack time.
What is he thinking about? Warmth? Peeing?
What I always think about is scale. It’s important to capture the beginning and it’s hard to miss the study in contract between his little head and his father’s hand supporting it… the size of his fist next to his father’s fingers. They’ll never be able to create that again and I love capturing it during that one moment.
While we’re settling in with our own newborn masterpiece (forgive me, but he’s pretty perfect) and preparing for the holidays, I’m holding my newborn close and thinking of the newborns I’ve photographed, the exhausted parents who are in love with them, and how I know the time will fly. I’m wishing rest and peace for us all.
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs, engagements and weddings, brides, and special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License
All photos are ©2017 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.