Why I Don't Pose Newborns

I believe newborns are perfect just as they are.

Their skin.  The way they smell.  Those little sleep smiles.  

All perfect.

I love that they come out of the womb with their own personality.  

No two are alike.  

When you take a sleeping baby and lay him or her down on a bed, they all do something different.  

Some curl up, some stretch out their legs (or just one leg), others will put their tiny hand up in front of their face, or give a little fist bump pose. 

Whatever they do, it's inevitable that at some point in the session their mom will laugh and say something like "we have an ultrasound photo with him in the exact same pose!"  Or "Ha!  She came out with her arms up by her ears like that."  They recognize a gesture in their baby that is unique and special to their baby, no one else.  

It always gives me goosebumps.

I believe that as a portrait photographer, my job is to capture the essence of the person I'm working with.  

That job is the same whether the person I'm working with is 45 years old, 5 years old, or 5 days old.

I want to create a piece of history that people can look back on and say "Oh my... look at you as a newborn baby... you know, you still make that expression"  

I want each portrait I take to be as unique as the infants I photograph.

My approach to posing

Here's the truth. A lot of the elaborate newborn poses that are popular these days, the ones where a baby looks like they're balancing in a bowl or propped with their chin in their hands, are not things a newborn can safely do on their own. They require supports, composite editing, and special training so that the baby is not injured. My belief has always been, if a photographer need special training to pose a baby safely, maybe we just shouldn’t be doing the pose!

And so what I do is different.

I follow your baby's natural movements. I never force a position. If they want to curl, I let them curl. If they want to stretch, I let them stretch. And they are only every placed in poses that a natural for them to hold. That means your baby will be place on their stomach, their side, their back or in your arms.

Your baby's safety is my number one priority. It's the whole reason I work the way I do.

And so I don't pose babies  

I soothe them.  I put them in a swaddle if they seem to need it.  But I let them lead the show.  I want to see who they are.  And I want to capture that for all time.

Follow this link to learn more about my approach to newborn photography.