Bellies and Babies

Maternity Portraits

What a special time of life pregnancy is! Feeling that little life inside kick and squirm, never quite getting comfortable in bed, constantly needing the loo, all day nausea… OK I still haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be up the duff. But you know what? When I look at the portraits of me and my belly, I don’t think about all that stuff. Portraits capture the best parts of being pregnant, so you can forget about the yukky stuff.

They are best booked when the morning sickness has eased a little, you have a definite bump, but aren’t completely feeling like a bloated whale. This varies from woman to woman, but most find that around 32-35 weeks is best, earlier if you are having multiples (we don’t want to accidently miss it!).

Maternity portraits can be scheduled in the privacy of your own home, local hotel, or other location of your choosing. We also have a studio available for hire, if you prefer. The session fee is a little more than our standard creation fee, because of the time and effort required to set up.

2010 Maternity Session Fee $170

Newborn Portraits

Aren’t newborn babies the sweetest things on the planet? I just love them. Those tiny little hands and feet. The fresh smell of baby powder. The fine hair on her shoulders and back. For the best newborn photos, you need to have the portraits taken within the first 14 days of the baby’s life. The earlier, the better. This is the stage where she will still be very sleepy and happy to be handled. After 2 weeks, many babies start to fuss a little more, infant acne will start to appear and he will prefer to stretch out, rather than curl up in a ball.

Portraits are taken in your home or other warm indoor location of your choice. Unless the weather is very warm, I do not take newborn portraits outside as babies don’t like being cold!

A few things you need to to prepare your home for newborn portraits:

• have the room very warm, particuarly if you want to undress the baby. An uncomfortably warm room for adults is perfect for a naked newborn baby.
• have lots of towels available. I am yet to photograph a newborn that hasn’t pee’ed, poop’ed or both whilst being held. It won’t gross me out – I promise!
• a beanbag covered in your baby’s favourite blanket makes for a great prop. If you’ve got one, have it ready.
• be patient! Newborn portraits can take several hours and I won’t be in any rush. We’ll stop for feeding, changing, and generally work around the little one’s schedule. Please don’t schedule anything else for the day of your newborn portrait shoot.

Like the maternity portraits, the newborn session fee is a little more than our standard portrait creation fee, because of the effort required to set up the mobile studio and the extra long time the session takes.

2010 Newborn Session Fee $220