Cuddly and Cute Newborn Boy

I have mentioned before that in the late summer, I accepted a position as an in-hospital photographer for a national company that offers a complimentary newborn session to their patients. My husband and I utilized the service almost eleven years ago with our first son and we were so pleased with the experience. When I accepted the position, I didn't know if I'd be a good fit in that context. Almost immediately, I knew I loved it. I love the opportunity to talk to new parents and cuddle brand new babies. As a mom of four, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to soothe fussy babies while still capturing a great shot. Working with the tiniest of clients had me itching for more opportunities to photograph newborns.

In January I attend a weekend workshop with The Newborn Nerds. It was such an amazing experience and I learned so much from the teachers, as well as other students from around the United States. I loved the images that I was able to photograph, and I knew I wanted to be able to recreate the poses in my own studio located just south of Des Moines in Norwalk.

I ran a model call, and I had several mamas with cute little ones apply. I chose Alivia and her baby, Saint. Saint has a big brother, Rome, that is two and a half years old. I loved that all of the family members were present and cooperated for family photos. The black and white family shots were my favorite, and you guys know how much I love color. There's just something so timeless about black and white photos though.

I had several different set-ups for Alivia to choose from, but I knew I wanted to do a monochromatic white on white shot. I absolutely love how these images turned out and they are some of my favorite pictures in the entire gallery.

I was hoping that Saint would get his wiggles out, so he'd fall into a deep sleep for the photos. No such luck though. He loved looking at the light though. Alivia and I were constantly taking turns moving his head away from the light.

Alivia also really loved the Valentine's Day look I had set up. I like to think of myself as a pretty good baby swaddling, but Saint decided to really try me and kept kicking out of the swaddle. That's ok because he truly is adorable. I did try and include some macro shots of his tiny hands and feet during this set-up since his feet were also exposed. One of the major things I learned from Saint's session is that I need to have additional heating in the studio space for the newborns. Although it was a comfortable temperature for me, we were swaddling and re-swaddling Saint frequently and 1-2 degrees warmer would have helped his little body maintain a comfortable temperature.

I'm so excited to get more little peanuts in my studio. I've been busy this winter and early spring growing my prop collection and honing in on my newborn skills.