Dear new parents,
Congrats to you! Being a parent is one of life's greatest gifts! Below are just some quick and easy things that you can do before I arrive for our session to make sure baby is comfy and relaxed! Remember this is a laid back session to capture “a day in the life” of your new growing family and we will go at the pace that baby sets, so don’t stress if they gets hungry or needs a diaper change, those make for great shots - it will be very go with the flow!
Very little is needed to prepare your home, so do not stress about it being spotless, you just had a baby! Just some simple decluttering and putting things in their place or a quick toss into a closet and out of sight is an easy way to prep a head of time, and we can always move items out of the way while we are shooting in a room and then put them back after we move on to another area. Areas where we will be focusing most of our time will be the master bedroom, nursery and living room.
Readying your home:
— Set your heat/ AC to a little warmer than what you normally find comfortable. If it feels a little hot to you, then you nailed it! This will help baby feel cozy and relaxed
— Open Curtains - please have your curtains and blinds all the way open in the Master, Living and Nursery. This will help me see the natural light of your home when I arrive and do an initial walk through of these areas and plan out the best areas for photos.
— Nursery: we will do some photos including the crib. So be mindful of the sheets! Cute repeating patterns or a plain neutral color works great! Please have any bumpers removed. And minimal clutter in and around the crib.
— Master Bedroom: Shots in here will be snuggly on your bed, so a made bed with a light neutral colored blanket or comforter works great! Colored bedding can cast/reflect the color onto you and the baby, so that is why a light neutral or white looks really good. Plus it doesn’t take distract from you and the baby in the photographs. Also declutter your end tables of any cups or miscellaneous items. If you have a big digital clock on your end table, maybe hide it in your closet for the session.
— Living room (or wherever you spend most of your time as a family) just needs to be decluttered and all blinds/curtains open.
Readying baby:
— Warm House! - check!
— 30 minutes before I arrive/ before baby naps: please loosen their diaper. This will allow time for the diapers imprint marks to disappear and remove any tight clothing that could also leave marks on the skin. A simple swaddle works really well, and provides great photo ops at the start of the session if they are still napping when I arrive. Yay baby-burritos! Also offer a feeding to them at this time as well, so that they have time to get a fully belly and relax before I arrive. I hope to start shooting as soon as I arrive.
— If baby’s skin is dry, a little baby lotion or natural oils can fix that right up before I arrive!
— Other great clothing options are neutral and simple onesies, just a diaper or diaper with diaper cover or britches (amazon or Etsy!), or al naturale in their birthday suits! It can be tempting to bring out all kinds of fancy baby outfits, but unless they are a perfect fit, they will often slouch and wrinkle and take away from the beautiful essence of a newborn. I will bring some wraps as well to have on hand. Less is more, and keep it casual.
For the parents and family:
— The idea of the session is for me to document a day in your life, so keep it real by wearing what your are most comfortable in and by being yourself. You can of course still primp and put make up on to photograph well, but still be yourself and casual. Less is usually more! (Theme of the day, ha)
— Neutral colors (whites, creams, greys, pastels, navy etc) are a great starting point when choosing what to wear. It is a good idea to stay away from really busy patterns or shirts with lettering/wording on them (this can be really distracting in photos). Bringing in pops of color with your jewelry and accessories is a great way to add some extra textures and colors, or layering sweaters or lace do great too! But keep it casual. What does a typical Sunday morning look like in your home? Now just coordinate it a touch and it should be perfect! Bare feet are excellent. A lot of moms will choose to wear a flowy shirt, or soft maxi dress. Remember your home will be set at a pretty warm temperature so dress so that you are comfortable as well!
— Please have any items you want used in the session collected together beforehand. Things like blankets, swaddles, stuffed animals or any other sentimental items. We will go through the items when I arrive and see how we can work each one in appropriately and naturally.
Remember,
Don’t stress, this is an adjustment period for your entire family, Baby included. If you stay relaxed then so will baby and everything will go nice and smooth. We will go at baby’s pace so if they need to eat or needs a diaper change or gets fussy, no sweat, we will go with the flow! Typically these sessions last about 2-2.5 hours, but it all depends on the pace baby sets, so we will go at their tempo and not rush. These are documentary style, so if baby fusses and you need to console, those make for great sweet moments in front of the camera.
I will mostly be using the natural light in your home, but I will also be bringing a flash that has an umbrella diffuser on it just in case we need a little extra light for your larger rooms. It is a “larger” piece of equipment on a stand and can look a bit cumbersome, just don’t let it stress you out by feeling like this an “on set” shoot - it is very laid back and casual affair! The flash gives off soft light and helps to fill in some darker shadows in a room and gives directional light, instead of just constant over head lighting from your ceiling. Also, the first thing I will do as soon as I arrive is ask to wash my hands so that I do not bring my germs into your home with a newborn, I just like to give a heads up on this as sometimes parents look at me funny when I ask for the sink shortly after saying “hello!"
Please let me know if you have any other ideas, questions or wish list shots for our session and remember I am always here for you for anything! Even if it’s “does his shirt match my dress?” :) I am always happy to help in any way I can!
I am very much looking forward to our shoot! These are such special moments for you guys and it is really exciting and meaningful to me to get to photograph them for you! Congrats again!
Much love,
Christian Leigh Sykora