As a photo artist, I like to take a simpler approach to newborn babies than what is trendy and popular. All you have to do to see the trends is click on every other newborn photographer’s website. I’m not saying that the trends are wrong or bad. They are quite popular, as a matter of fact. But that is why I avoid them. I want my newborn photography to seem fresh 10-20 years from now. Like my wedding photography, dedicating myself to my style (shooting the way that I like) is important to me and helps me stay away from dating my work, not to mention offering my clients unique photography. So my approach, as I’ve stated, is simple. And that means I keep it simple.
It’s All About the Light
I’ve written about it frequently, most recently -HERE- The main component of my approach to photography is quality light. For Benjamin’s newborn session, I wanted to keep everything in natural light. What you see is what you get, which I love. It’s more efficient, which is important with the unpredictability of newborn babies. And it’s more…natural. By controlling the environment of the room by eliminating all light except that which I was using, it enables me to put the light only where necessary on him.
The Perfect Baby Model
Benjamin was perfect for his newborn pictures. His parents made sure that he was well fed and it seemed that it was just about nap time right at the start of his photos (Full disclosure, Sarah and Jon are my sister and brother-in-law). I don’t do any photoshop tricks so multiple outfits helped give us some variety. There are only so many things you can do with a newborn baby creatively. A large reflector helped sculpt the light on the shadow side by reducing the contrast just a little. My style is, naturally, more contrasty than most, but I try not to over do it in my newborn photography. Since Benjamin is baby number two for Sarah and Jon we did some family pictures as well. And, even though the focus was on newborn Benjamin, we showed some love to his big brother, Jonah.
I want to thank Sarah and Jon for allowing be to photograph Benjamin. Here are a few of my favorite images.