One of the things I love about family shoots, is being able to follow a family as they grow. I photographed Naomi when she was just 4 weeks old with her parents Kathryn & Simon. I was so happy to be able to come back 2.5years later and photograph Naomi as a proud big sister to new baby Benjamin. Benjamin was 8 weeks old, which meant he was mostly wide awake – giving me lots of amazing facial expressions as he gazed at my camera with his big blue eyes. I often find babies are intrigued by the noise of the camera shutter and tend to look towards the sound which works well!
Family shoots at home let everyone feel relaxed and comfortable, Naomi was able to show me her room and her favourite books and play downstairs while I photographed Benjamin on a beanbag and with each of his parents. Then Naomi came up to join us and was very proud to show me how she could hold Benjamin (with grown up hands poised to keep him safe if needed) and lie down next to him to give him a cuddle. A big double bed was perfect for everyone to pile onto for some gorgeously relaxed family photos – capturing them all together as a family of four for the first time.
Kathryn very kindly wrote about the baby photos I’d taken of Naomi and what she felt I had managed to capture:
“I cannot recommend Hannah highly enough. I used to think that the skill of a photographer is a technical one: getting perspectives and light just right. After Hannah photographed my newborn daughter, I realised that there is something additional that a professional photographer needs: the ability to see what others see. For us, she saw and captured so many facets of our baby girl’s personality, in little instances when she revealed them. Our daughter is now two years old, and we still look back on those photographs with delight, marvelling at how aspects of her character were showing themselves even then, but even more magically, that a person who met her for the first time could see and record those for us to enjoy forever.”
With Benjamin 8 weeks old, I was lucky to be able to get some behind the scenes shots during this shoot – to give you a peek at what it looks like at an at home baby photography shoot. Thanks to Karl for the photos.
If you like my baby photography and you’d like to see more, I’ve shared photographs from a premature baby session, and at home newborn photography session with a 2 week old baby here. I can create images to capture the excitement of your pregnancy as well as newborn images and older babies and children. Sometimes people worry they ‘missed’ newborn photos – but I think it’s possible to create beautiful baby portraits no matter their age. As you can see 8 weeks old is a lovely age for expressions and awake portraits, and by taking into account a baby’s age and development it’s possible to plan and capture them as they are at that point in time. If you’d like me to create a collection of special memories for your family – please send me a message.
