
If you leave aside newborn photography, which is definitely requiring of time, baby photography as a rule is an art form better done fast.
Now that’s not to say it should be rushed or careless, my full attention is given to doing everything in my power to get you the images that you want. They are your memories and they couldn’t matter more to me. But when it comes to little people, speed is an advantage.
When they are very small – say four months, around the time of your first Joey Club, then the thing that will almost stop a session is overwhelm. Tiny little people are easily overloaded by a lot of newness and a visit to the studio is packed full of it – it’s a new person, a new environment, new sensory experiences with posing on unfamiliar surfaces with flashing lights and lots of grown ups doing pretty much anything that they can think of to make them smile. All of this is amazing fun but only for a little bit as it will quickly become too much and that’s when we need to wrap the session and let them relax and process. On average, I reckon (and it does vary according to the baby of course) is about twenty minutes. That means I have that long to get all of the images that you want.
When they are a little bit older, the issue of overwhelm still exists but it’s not as key as you get a bit longer before it kicks in as they’re more experienced in navigating the world around them. However, it’s at this point, that they start to want to be able to physically explore and it’s very hard to match their interest in that with sitting vaguely still to get their picture taken. I have tricks up my sleeve but they will only get us so far. Eventually frustration will win out so there’s another time limit there for us to work to.
When I’m working with toddlers, the problems there will be obvious to you if you’ve ever met one! Things are super fun for them for about two minutes flat, then we need to change it up and move on to the next thing to keep it fresh, exciting and getting the expressions that you want in your photos.
So it’s part of my job to work faster and smarter to get the maximum results out of your session. Preparation is key to this which is why you’ll already have selected any backdrops, props and accessories that you want to use before you come. I will have everything lined up and ready to go when you arrive and a rough route map through the session already in my head. Then we simply crack through our goals until we meet as many as possible.
It’s always baffled me when I see photographers advertising two hour sessions for babies and toddlers as, in my experience, extra time in the studio doesn’t yield any better pictures. In fact, it is more likely to lead to a lot more stress for parents and child and not a single extra image to show for it. It’s not like they need time to take their outfit changes at a relaxed pace and stop for a coffee.
But then I thought, perhaps this is just a bit of a vague idea that I’ve got in my head that isn’t backed up by fact. So I took a look at a fairly typical session with an active 8 month old on my PC out of interest as I’ve never really looked at the time / image ratio before in any quantities capacity. It was ten minutes of shooting and it generated 71 really beautiful images, including pictures with siblings, two outfits and two different backdrops. It didn’t feel rushed or frantic in the slightest – everyone had a good time and we simply moved quickly from point A to B and so on until we’d done everything we wanted to do.
That’s not to say that we have such a rigid plan that we don’t make the most of any and all opportunities that come our way and accommodate how your little one is feeling on the day – babies and toddlers are capricious beings and you ignore their wants and needs at your peril!
Baby Photography
You can book a stand alone baby photo shoot for £95 including three digital images or you can take a look at my Baby Photography Club which includes
- Sessions at 4, 8 and 12 months
- The last session as a cake smash / tub splash if you’d like it (no extra charge)
- Your favourite image from each session in a wall frame at the end of the year OR a free digital image from each session
- Online private image gallery after each session (no sales / viewing appointments)
- £39.95 for the sessions and the wall frame