It’s not very often that we have so many patient under 5’s through in a row, but we ended last week on a high welcoming the very gorgeous Chloe and 2 week old baby Ella for their family photo shoot.
At 2 weeks old, Ella arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed! We didn’t waste time in grabbing this opportunity for some gorgeous sibling shots, and Chloe was happy to snuggle up with her alert new sis for some cute shots of them together. We’re always amazed by the tenderness of new young siblings, and we love this image which really captures Chloe’s gentleness and the way Ella snuggled in to her.
(Please click on an image to see it bigger)
With all the usual feed and cuddle stops as we worked, Ella settled after moving on to a handful of family shots to capture these early family days together. We respected Ella’s tiny wishes as we worked….. she really disliked being wrapped so we popped her in our specialist cute crochet trousers instead, as nappies are never a good look ! Despite this shoot being quite long for a 4 year old, Chloe was incredibly patient and understanding that the process would take time as we stop – started to ensure Ella’s needs were tended to.
Every newborn needs their sleep, and Ella drifted off into a good sleep after several feeds allowing us to finish with some classic sleepy newborn shots. We love the snoozy hands behind head shot as it sums up how tired she was! At times as she slept, Ella smiled giving us some tiny expressions …..admittedly, they were probably windy smiles but heart melting nonetheless.
Ella has an amazing crop of hair and what always makes us smile as we work is that babies too get bed hair, especially in the warmth of our studio. Cute as this is, we respect that these shots will be enjoyed for a number of years so we pay special attention to ensure our newborns are arranged with their dignity in mind, and sticky up tufts of hair smoothed when they’re not rocking their usual look!
Ella was relaxed & comfortable in the head-on-hands shot which is a classic image in newborn photography, and we love achieving this shot for our clients. At 2 weeks old she’s already learnt how to stretch out and this is why we can never guarantee the shots we’ll achieve with a newborn shoot. Each baby is different and their range of comfort and flexibility needs to be understood. We pride ourselves in working safely; it has to be the number one consideration for each and every shoot. It’s also why we recommend newborn shoots in the first 2-3 weeks, and Ella’s incredible physical strength and preference to stretch out illustrates how quickly newborns change during this time.
We finished the shoot happy that we’d captured a range of newborn and family shots as briefed, and pleased Ella had settled to capture some sleepy shots. These early days are precious and while we know a 3 hour shoot is a long time, we feel the results are worth the wait. Thanks to Mum, Dad, Chloe and Ella for allowing us to share one of your early family experiences together and choosing us for Ella’s first photo shoot.
