When I first decided to do newborn photography, I knew the key was preparation.
I wanted to be educated in photography (using my camera and lighting properly), trained in newborn safety and posing, and learn all I could about editing. Those were my 3 main goals.
I went all in and felt ready to go.
I started by offering 10 free newborn sessions.
I was excited to fill up the spots and then I received a text that the first Mama’s baby girl was born on August 19, 2022. Honestly, a year later these have become some of my favorite messages…getting notices from parents that their babies have arrived and pics that they send from the hospital or when they get home is so special to me.
A year later, I’ve been checking in with these Mamas and getting the updated one year pics and it’s just so fun to see them grow.
But, back to that first session….
I was completely confident and ready in the weeks leading up to the day, but honestly once that Saturday before arrived, I was terrified and became a nervous wreck!
I knew I could overcome and was like hello….I’m a Mom. I’m a Nonnie. I’ve got this, but I started getting scared of how wrapping the baby and posing the baby was going to go. I knew it would be different being by myself and without my mentor….and….oh boy! It was becoming real!!
I’ve only voiced this out loud to a few people, but figured I should share as it’s one of my memories of getting started and how I overcame by just taking that step and not backing out.
We can’t overcome our fears or move forward trying something new for ourselves if we give up….a new career, hobby, or just something that is the reward and can bring us such joy should not be given up on so easily.
So the day was quickly approaching that we had set for Baby #1 photo session on August 28th
As I was preparing for the session that Saturday before, I suddenly started feeling very anxious and like I was going to be sick to my stomach from the anxiety. I was trying out the wraps again on a baby doll and the wraps weren’t holding together. Of course it isn’t the same as with an actual baby, and I started fearing it would be worse (it’s actually easier on a real baby). I tried all my methods to chill out and was suddenly so afraid of the unexpected.
But of course the day came. I’ve known Mama since she was about 13 years old, so I was super excited to see her, her husband and their new baby. I had created the calm, warm, sleepy environment for their baby and psyched myself up.
Taking baby girl out of her car seat? No problem. Rocking and loving her to sleep? No problem.
Then when starting to change her out of her outfit and as she was in my lap, suddenly I wanted to run! I thought what have I gotten myself into? Of course I didn’t tell her parents. They were relaxed and settling into my studio. But I was in my head saying why am I thinking like this??????
I got baby on my posing table and then within minutes……a very loud noise (a toot)….and then POOP! Mama was in the recliner on the other side of my studio like and was like “oh my gosh!” It was loud and we started cracking up. I knew to expect this, but it was right off the bat in my first session. It was like an explosion across the table. LOL I do have puppy pads and back up fabric underneath, so we changed the fabrics….and again….POOP!!!! Twice in the same session and before I got any pictures!!! My first baby…doing me that way. I had to laugh, but still had to figure out another backup and getting some poses in.
Then, when finally getting her to sleep, I was scared to move her hands into position and didn’t want to disturb her (I’ve learned better techniques now and will let them have their moments getting upset with me when waking them up), but that first session, the Mama/Nonnie in me, kept picking her up every time she made a even a slight cry when I moved her. That made it very difficult to get any pictures of course. Lesson learned after I looked at her gallery. The images were definitely not as good as when I took pictures with my mentor.
Of course this is how we learn, right? Allowing ourselves to do something new, knowing we won’t be perfect…or the “best” , but hey, go for it and get better. It takes practice and putting yourself out there to improve is where it’s at, and to the people who have allowed me to do this, I say thank you.
The epiphany I had in that first session was when I went to the wrapped poses…the part I was most afraid of…where I sit on the floor and hold these tiny new babies. I really looked into her eyes and felt like she looked back at me and said “you got this”. Immediately the George Strait lyric “I saw God today” came into my mind as I looked at her and I was calmed. She fell asleep. The part I feared most is the time in the session where every baby I’ve had since falls asleep.
I haven’t been nervous since then either. Not at all. I just realized these little humans would respond to how I react. I started thinking of all the knowledge I have with babies outside of photography. That’s all I needed to do was use that love and maternal instinct I have towards babies to my advantage and they react to it. Easy peasy. Of course my safety training and all of the education is most important, but it was remembering the feelings of love towards the babies that made the fear go away.
Still, after that first session, I was honestly disappointed with the pics I was delivering for Mama to choose from as part of the 10 digitals at no charge offer I made her. I still created the proof gallery and sent it to her to choose her faves. I could be happy that I didn’t walk away from it and knew I had learned some things and was excited for the next baby.
What I couldn’t believe is Mama chose 12 pictures Really?? Truly??? Honestly?? I couldn’t believe she paid for 2 more in addition to the 10 offered at no charge!!! Say what????
For my anniversary of one year in the newborn business and in appreciation of the first 3 Mamas allowing me to photograph their newborns, I offered them each a free cake smash session for their now one year olds. How has it been a year? We knocked out those 3 sessions over the last 2 weeks and I’m just beaming at the results.
For the first newborn’s one year session, I delivered the proof gallery to Mama with 105 pictures. And guess what? Mama favorited 43 and then texted me saying “OMG those are so cute!!!…Lol… How can I choose?” Talk about being so happy to deliver such precious memories for her. Pretty cool we went from 12 liked last year for the newborn session to 105 liked for the one year session, so we worked out a deal and she bought all 105.
It’s crazy…the progress and how it’s just second nature to me now and so fun. My goal for the next year is to continue improving on my editing, getting better at staging, and adding more props and fabrics. I do invest in Photoshop action editing tools from a newborn photography vendor and continue participating in their education classes for staging inspiration. It is a lot to juggle with my job where I’ve worked for almost 25 years, but the flexibility of that job allows me to create memories with babies and their families and for that I’m so very grateful.
Fears are gone. Now it’s just fun and this sweet girl that I’ve mentioned in this blog maybe didn’t have the best newborn pictures with me, but she will always have such a special place in my heart! Her Mama is the best for giving me the opportunity to start somewhere. Happy birthday sweet girl!
Newborn Photographer / Family Photographer / Lifestyle Photographer / Tomball, Texas / Magnolia, Texas / Spring, Texas / The Woodlands, Texas / Cypress, Texas / Katy, Texas / Houston, Texas / Friday’s Fotography / Newborn Photography / Cake Smash Photography / Baby Milestone Photography / One Year Photography / 6 Month Milestone / 6 Month Sit Sessions
