With the recent media attention given to two sets of out-of-state photographers (who skillfully re-create Anne Geddes-type images for their clients) and the droves of photographers they’ve inspired to also re-create Anne Geddes’ work, discussions have taken place in the photography world about what newborn portraits have become. Well, you can let it become whatever you want it to be. There’s a photographer out there with a style for everyone. Hopefully they won’t all try to be the same.
So what’s my style? I do like to create artistic images. But when photographing people, I find the best way to do that is to keep my main focus on the people themselves. I like to photograph these precious babies in a way that captures their new lives…all their little details, the way they still like to curl up, their sleepiness, the joy on the parents’ faces, and the love evident in the way they’re held. I love knowing the babies will look back when they’re older and know how much they were loved from the very start.
It does seem, at times, like treating babies as still life is all the rage, and photographers scramble to re-create the latest crazy pose of the moment. Then next week, it’s another more challenging pose, and even babies hanging from trees. Do newborns hang from trees in their real lives? Do they rest on their elbows and hold their head up with their hands? It reminds me of the old-time “thinking man” baby pose done by studios that stamped their logo on the portraits in gold foil. Cute, but not me…and not really a photograph of your baby either…much of the time, it’s merely a photograph of a pose, using your baby.
I like to create images that at least resemble reality. I do sometimes photograph babies in laundry baskets, bassinets, and vintage prams, to add a few special images that feature just the baby alone. This image below is one inspired by baby doves born next to my front door. When I do images of this type, I like to place the baby in the basket, and let their heads lay down however is natural for them:
But personally, I don’t get any requests for the babies being used merely to capture a certain pose, and never has someone asked me to hang their baby from a tree. I think the reason they don’t ask me (aside from their child’s safety and well-being) is that they know my main style takes more of a lifestyle approach. The focus of my newborn sessions, even when in a basket, are the newborns themselves and the place they take in their families’ hearts.
If you’re pregnant, and interested in a newborn session, let me know and we can talk about what kind of portraits you want. In the meantime, here are a couple recent images of newborns with mom:
by admin
19 comments