What Is Baby-Led Newborn Photography?
When you have a new bundle of joy on the way and you’re looking for a newborn photographer to capture the incredible first days of your baby’s life, it’s important to look past the portraits. Sure, you want the photos to be beautiful, but you also want this to be a wonderful experience for your growing family, so make sure you look for a photographer whose process aligns with how you want your photo session to feel.
One of the terms you might come across as you’re exploring different photographers is “baby-led photography,” so let’s talk about what this is and why it’s so important in newborn photography.
What Baby-Led Newborn Photography Is
Baby-led newborn photography essentially means being observant and mindful of your baby’s feedback throughout the session and running the session on their timetable. For example, as a photographer, I arrange babies into different poses based on my and their parents’ visions for the portraits, but if a baby just doesn’t want to be in a certain pose, whether they get fussy or they just aren’t holding the pose, I don’t push it - I move on and try something different. In the same way, when your baby starts to get fussy or indicates that they’re hungry, this tells me that it’s time for a break.
Why Do Newborn Photographers Use Baby-Led Sessions?
A baby-led photo session is the way to go for newborn photography for several reasons that benefit your baby as well as you as the parent, me as the photographer, and your finished portraits.
Keeping Your Baby Safe
Your baby’s safety is always my top priority, and I know it’s yours too! That’s a key reason for baby-led photography. While I have extensive training in how to safely and comfortably pose babies for portraits, every baby is different and we might not always know why a baby is uncomfortable in a pose - whether it’s physically unpleasant for them or they simply don’t like it. The safest bet is to just take their word for it and use poses that your baby enjoys as much as we do.
Getting the Best Newborn Portraits
Newborn photography is all about preserving these precious first moments with your baby, and let’s be honest, you want to remember the best parts of these days - not the times when your baby was crying and you were stressed. So for newborn portraits, the best photos are those when your precious little one is sleepy and at peace, and the best way to get those portraits is to keep them happy rather than trying to use poses they don’t like or continuing to shoot when they need a break.
Enjoying a More Peaceful Session
This one might seem trivial, but it’s really not! When you look back on your newborn portraits, you’ll remember not only this chapter of your family’s life but this day in particular,r too. As a photographer, I want to make this a beautiful and fantastic experience for all of you so that the memories you have of these portraits are positive ones. And frankly, when baby isn’t happy, no one’s happy, so baby-led photography makes everyone’s day better!
Book Your Metro Seattle Newborn Photographer
If you want an enjoyable, safe, and stress-free newborn photography experience with stunning portraits that last a lifetime, I’m your girl! Contact Jaimié Birtel Photography and let’s get you on the calendar at my Mercer Island studio.