I got to finally meet Wesley for her Lake Angelus newborn session last week. I’ve had a run of awake babies lately. Wesley was the best way to break that streak. Not only was she absolute perfection in a tiny little bundle. But she brought a big brother that was even cuter.
I always like to start my newborn sessions with a wrapped baby to help get them in a sleepy mood. We did mom/baby, dad/baby, and of course the whole family. I think over the years my favorite image to capture is that first family photo. And I love when family portraits include a sibling that can’t get enough of that new baby sister. He just kissed on her and hugged her. It was so adorable. I captured as many sibling photos as I could because I’m not always blessed with such a patient sibling. We got to do all the poses I wanted, and even a few more. But I think that these snuggly poses on the bed are my favorites. His smile is so big!
We then moved into some props. There’s always a few props you’ll see used in every session.
- Baskets: This is a great way to transition from family posing to prop posing. I keep the wrap on, usually changing it out for a different color.
- Buckets: This is one of my favorite props. I don’t know why, it’s such a sweet size reference. Those little fingers stacked, and an adorable little face. I use a special bucket that allows me to change up the designs on it. I have a huge collection of floral, solid, and patterned wraps for my bucket. It’s great for storage, long gone are the days of painting buckets to be colorful, and then storing multiple buckets. They don’t exactly fold down! So now I have a drawer full of magnetic wraps that just stick to my bucket and I could even switch it all out with baby still sleeping in there for a new look! It’s a great prop for sibling photos as well.
- Bowls: My family laughs at me when I’m shopping. I see a pretty piece of home decor and I always ask, “could I put a baby in that?” It’s the perfect shape to curl baby up.
From props I head into table posing. This is where those adorable little curly poses come in. Starting, always, with froggy. Ugh I can’t even explain how much I love a cute froggy pose. It’s the hardest one, and takes the longest to get sometimes. I’m messing with fingers, toes, cheeks. It’s always done safely as a composite. So it takes two photos to do safely. The first I’m supporting their wrists, and the second I’m supporting their head. That way the weight of their body is never held up on their own. And later in editing software I will remove my hands by merging the two photos together.
Wesley’s mom choose some great colors, and everything flowed together so well. I just loved everything about her Lake Angelus newborn session. Enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed capturing these first moments for them!
