Eden 6 days new - Brisbane Baby Photographer

6 day new Eden had a bit of a challenge as her big sister Francesca (Frankie - 14 months) was one of my favourite sessions from last year and has been one of my brand images since with her sweet gentle smile on a lot of my marketing materials.  

Francesca's newborn session 2015

But let me assure you, Eden brought her A game! 

Big sister Frankie took the lead at the start with all her adorable smiles! However she was running a bit low on supply after a while.  We got a gorgeous family photo then it was time for the sibling shots and although Eden was a total star, Frankie just wanted her bottle and a lie down. Which is fair enough when the room is toasty warm and there is a soft blanket you have been asked to lay down on.  She had a quick little cuddle with Eden and an adorable little kiss ..... and then she was done. 

But I was not deterred!  I had a backup plan - and it was quite sneaky. 

We had Frankie sit for some photos by a basket, then she set off for daycare while we finished the session with Eden. By the way, this is a great option for younger aged siblings as they can sometimes get weary or bored once their turn in front of the camera has finished.  Eden then had her turn in the basket and after I waved my magic photoshop wand across it all, ta-da! A gorgeous sibling photo! 

I got my photoshop skills out again for another special photo in the session, my first ever hanging basket shot. This is done as two photos stitched together so that the baby is never in any danger of falling from the prop. First we positioned baby Eden into the soft blankets while the prop was safely on the floor, after the photo was taken we moved her to a safe spot on the beanbag while we took the photo of the prop hanging against the backdrop. I then merged the photos together in photo shop to create this stunning image that will compliment Eden's yellow and black bedroom perfectly! (This image is at the bottom of the post)

The session flowed so quickly we were done in the regular 3 hours - a major achievement with a 14 month old at a session - and there are so many gorgeous photos of these girls and their parents I was just buzzing as I loaded their photos into the computer and backed them up. 

   

Image Shoutouts:

Hanging Basket- David Lam Designs    Curly Felt -Flovelies  Backdrop - Divine Miss Ruby Designs

  

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Newborn Photographer Brisbane   |    Family Photographer Brisbane

Bump to Baby - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

Expecting your first child can be an emotional rollercoaster. Some days you are elated at your baby bump and feeling those little fluttery kicks, then other days you are just tired and achey. 

I always found that taking some time to focus on you before baby arrives helps to get through the last few weeks. Get a manicure, have your hair done, a pregnancy massage is ah-may-zing. And a photoshoot celebrating you and your beautiful maternal shape is also a massive mood lifter.

These beautiful parents knew they were having a little girl and were pretty sure they were going to name her Willow so it was just perfect that our maternity session at the Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens ended up based around all the Willow trees. 

For expectant families, the Maternity package is a great option as it includes 2 sessions, loads of photos, an album, a mobile app, a digital birth announcement card all at a great discounted rate. Find out more on my website here.

Maternity Package bookings are so exciting for me too because it means I get to meet the expectant parents a few weeks before meeting their new baby. We get to know each other over the hour or so that we photograph the maternity session and then when they return for their newborn session I feel like I am greeting friends after they have welcomed their baby, which adds to my own excitement about their newborn photo shoot.

This was the case when I met Willow at just 6 days new. She was such a little poppet with her beautiful soft cheeks and little nose. She was a little excited about our session too as she kept herself awake much longer than we thought she would - she had such a full tummy and the heat and the white noise eventually became too much and she drifted off into a deep sleep while we captured the majority of her stunning images.

As much as Willow enjoyed the 30 degree heat, her poor Dad didnt cope so well  (I find a lot of Dads would agree with this!) but between cold water and breaks out of the room we got there in the end without too much discomfort.

Willow's Mum shared a new freebie with me that I thought was really cool - a white noise app with a half hour womb soundtrack, as well as other options of white noise.  You can check it out in the apple store here.

I had so much fun working with some new props I recently purchased such as the pink lace blanket and the stunning vine basket from David Lam Designs (you can find him on Facebook here). It is always a challenge working with new things but also a lot of fun creating new images for the first time.

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Newborn Photographer Brisbane   |   Family Photographer Brisbane

A Very Little Sweetheart - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

This was one of those sessions that could not have gone any better!  Isla was so sleepy, which always makes me a little nervous when babies are so sleepy at the start of the session as I really need them asleep at the end of the session. 

But Isla was just sleepy. The whole time she was here. 

She didnt like me curling and snuggling her into a couple of setups, but guess thats to be expected, I mean, she's been snuggled up for the last 8 months, so now she wants to stretch her legs! 

Did you catch that? 8 months? Yep Isla was born at 36 weeks and is officially the smallest baby I have met or photographed. Until now, my own daughter Sophie was the smallest at 47cm and 2.3kg, but Isla pipped her at 45cm and 2.2kg.  

So just over 2kgs of delightful sweetness, I can't even tell you how nice it was to sneak a couple of little cuddles in with her while Mum and Dad organised her older siblings Harper and Ashton.  

If you thought Isla was adorable, these two will give her a run for it! Harper with her gorgeous dark curly hair (LOVE!) and Ashton with the most amazing cheeky smile, and then together with their new sister... prepare yourself, the photos of the three of them together are just amazingly cute. 

By the way, single portraits of older siblings are a standard inclusion at my newborn sessions. I think its important to celebrate all family members at a newborn photo shoot and older siblings are often really excited to be the centre of attention while their new little brother or sister is getting changed or feeding.

Isla was also the first baby on some of my new props such as my deep rose blanket, and doesn't it set off her gorgeous dark features beautifully?   

I also got to use my stunning new backdrops from Divine Miss Ruby Designs in the session and am in love with them too.  It is always such a treat for me as an artist to use new props or create new setups because as much as I love using props that I know work together, it is always fun to create something fresh.

 

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Brisbane Newborn Photographer    |    Brisbane Family Photographer

Twin Girls - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

Rose and Claire were such stars, sleeping almost the entire session! We were able to capture some simply stunning photos of the girls together and also alone. I think it is so important to photograph each twin by themselves because as delightful as it is to see them snuggled together, they are still an individual and that should be celebrated also.

The girls have such different personalities already, Rose was very relaxed and barely noticed anything that was going on while Claire wasn't so keen on me fussing about posing her, having a wriggle and a stretch each time.  Claire had the most amazing big smiles while Rose's smiles were soft and sneaky.

Like most new babies they love being wrapped and snuggled and Claire especially liked the white noise at the session (you can download your free version here)

Their proud big brother Jackson was amazing too, after his photos were done he was quite content to play with some toys while we continued the session just photographing his new sisters.

Being selected as the photographer to document welcoming a new family member is always an honour, and this is especially true when I am chosen by the family of twins. I love the challenge of working with two babies and the stunning photos of their bond that we are able to capture for this gorgeous family.

 

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au 

Brisbane Newborn Photographer   |   Brisbane Family Photographer

Mixing It Up - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

When I had my first baby, 5 years ago, I was a neurotic mess. I was worried about everything from if she was eating too much, eating too little, sleeping too much, wearing enough clothes, not enough clothes, were the clothes too big or too loose or was she supposed to make that sound? 

Now I think it is fair to say that my experience of looking after my first newborn was pretty normal, even the most chilled out people can become shaken up messes when they are running on two hours sleep and caring for the most precious baby in the world. 

But not this family!  Little Evie was such a relaxed little baby, and why wouldn't she be with parents like hers? These guys were so chilled out for having their first baby, Im pretty sure I still came off as the over-thinking neurotic one! 

We had so much fun at this session and did a really great mix of setups, some bright colour, some neutral, back and whites and of course some pink.  Each time I meet a new family we work together to design the setups and some families like to work with one colour tone through out while others like to have mix it up a bit, which is exactly what we did for Evie's session.

The session couldn't have gone better, Evie must be destined for a modelling career because she was so happy to just go with the flow each time we changed setup. Its so nice working your way through a newborn session like that. 

This is such a loving family and a true pleasure to be around. I certainly hope to photograph them all again as Evie grows. Congratulations again on such a beautiful little girl!

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au 

Brisbane Newborn Photographer    |    Brisbane Family Photographer  

Bubbles and Smiles - Brisbane Family Photographer

Sometimes it is the smallest things in life that can give us the most joy. 

This was such a special family session for me to capture for 2 year old Maddison. We had to reschedule once already due to some torrential weather a few weeks back but this time around we couldn't have asked for a better day! 

The best time of the day for light is late afternoon. 

Any parent will tell you that the worst time time of the day for a toddler is late afternoon.  

But despite a long day Maddison was so good. I think maybe because she loved all the cuddles she was getting from Mum and Dad. Although it was kind of funny because if she was cuddling mum, she would be asking for Dad. If she was cuddling Dad, she was reaching out for Mum. Go figure. 

Things were at a bit of a standoff when we were trying to get her to wear the gorgeous little head piece her mum had had made especially for the shoot. It was stunning, beautiful  real baby's breath created by a florist just for this occasion, there was even a matching little posy! 

She was not having it. We tried distracting her while sneaking it onto her head. Nope. 

We tried bribing with treats and promises. Nope. 

We tried bubbles. Yes!

Once the bubbles came out, just like that the headpiece was forgotten and the smiles were at full beam again. 

I have never seen a little girl light up so quickly at the sight of bubbles, it was simply joy personified. 

After the bubbles had finished she spent a lot of time making sure her shoes were on exactly right (and gave me a chance to photograph her amazing eyelashes!) before the last photo was taken and we were all headed home for a nice dinner and bed. 

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www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Brisbane Family Photographer    |    Brisbane Newborn Photographer