Sweet little Nathan was a joy to meet and he sure is loved by his family!  Big brother Jacob who has been in the studio before was in love with his new baby brother and wasn’t afraid to get snuggly.  Enjoy a look at our time together!

Set one is on a plain white backdrop to go along with the neutral white and blue colour palette chosen for Nathan’s session.  We had quite a lot of fun with big brother Jacob giving kisses and enjoying this special session with his family.  When the plan is to take family and sibling portraits we start with sibling portraits if we can at the beginning of the session.  Usually big brothers and sisters are quiet at first and a little nervous of our big light.  We start off slow and usually they warm up as we act a little silly or if Mom or Dad sits beside them so they feel at ease.  We want them to enjoy their experience with us!  We start with siblings in age appropriate poses (little ones especially around the 18-22 month mark are especially difficult to get to stay in one area near baby.  This is typical behaviour for that age group so we usually suggest simpler poses like the ones taken from above when the kids are on their backs or we may put the older sibling behind the younger, wrapped baby, as you can see below.  Older siblings can usually hold baby’s in their laps with ease) and then we move on to family portraits.  Nathan’s family wanted a bigger newborn package so we made sure to get extra family portraits that they would love, acting silly so Jacob could be a real ham for the camera!  These are Nathan’s family’s favourites from this portion of our time together.

baby boy brother mother father Kingston ontario newborn photographer

Once we were finished the family and sibling sets we moved on to parent portraits with baby while Jacob played with the toys we have available.  My recommendation to all families is to choose neutral coloured clothing and their outfits were perfect for it.  Simple, allowing for baby and their connection to be the star.  We start the parent portraits with one parent holding on to baby either wrapped or unwrapped.  In this case they liked the idea of Nathan being bundled and we started with Dad holding onto Nathan.  We always go through two parent poses giving different options including the cradle hold, baby against chest, baby close to face, baby’s head in parent’s hands and baby on belly on parent’s arms.

I usually start with the traditional cradle hold because this is how parent’s most often hold their baby.  We capture the parent looking down at baby as well as looking up and include the other parent beside them (looking up and down at baby and at each other). Nathan’s family chose these two from this pose which I think looks so sweet.

 

baby boy white wrap father Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy white wrap mother father Kingston ontario newborn photographer

We then moved on to baby in Dad’s hands.  In this pose we captured Dad looking down at baby and then often ask the parent if they are able to either raise baby up a bit higher or bend down to kiss baby’s forehead or give a butterfly kiss for a different variation on this pose while photographing from the side view.  We will then ask the other parent to come in for a portrait of the three of them with baby in this position.

baby boy father kissing forehead white wrap Kingston ontario photographer

Then we moved on to Mom in cradle position and then Mom chose the pose where Nathan is close to her face.  This way we can pose Mom with eyes closed resting her cheek on baby’s cheek, eyes open looking at the camera as well as kissing baby on the cheek or forehead.  Nathan’s little feet had kicked out of his wrap at this point but we thought it looked so sweet to see his toes so we left them peeking out.  Mom chose these two portraits to represent her love of Nathan during this part of the session and I think they just perfectly encapsulate Maggie’s love for her sweet baby boy.

 

mother baby boy white wrap cream sweater Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy mother kissing forehead wrapped Kingston ontario newborn photographer

In the next set we kept Nathan wrapped in the white wrap and placed him on the white flokati.  All props and sets are part of the Jennifer Willard Photography (JWP) prop collection so that a client never has to worry about bringing any props of their chosen colours to the session.

baby boy white wrap white flokati Kingston ontario newborn photographer

I loved capturing this sweet smile as not every baby graces us with their smile during their newborn photography session.

white wrap baby boy Kingston ontario newborn photographer

We decided to switch the wrap to a grey one to add a new neutral colour to our palette and Nathan decided he wanted to wake up for a little bit.  I love when baby’s wake up for a short period of time so we can get both wide awake and sleepy portraits.

baby boy grey wrap white flokati Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy black and white wrap white flokati Kingston ontario photographer

baby boy grey wrap white flokati Kingston ontario newborn photographer

Then he decided he was done and needed a bit of a snuggle from Mom.

black and white baby crying Kingston newborn photographer

The next step was a requested extra that we don’t normally offer.  Typically our family portions of newborn sessions only include one backdrop for family portraits.  When older siblings are included they often are not able to come back in for a second round of portraits during the session because they just don’t want to.  So we keep their portion short and sweet.  Nathan’s family wanted additional family portraits on a dark set to match their Maternity session portraits and even though Jacob was definitely done by then, he was still adorable and we got some great parent and baby portraits that I know they love.

baby boy wrapped brother mother father Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy big brother parents Kingston ontario newborn photographer

newborn boy mother father black backdrop Kingston ontario family photographer

mother father baby boy blue wrap dark backdrop Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy blue wrap mother dark texture backdrop Kingston ontario newborn photographer

 

Our next set was on a blue blanket and we started with the same blue wrap and slowly unwound him so we could see fingers and toes.

baby boy blue wrap blanket Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy blue wrap blanket toes Kingston ontario photographer

black and white hands Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby newborn toes details Kingston ontario photographer

Then we moved on to the bum up pose which is my favourite go to pose.

baby boy blue wrap blanket bum Kingston ontario newborn photographer

Then moved on to side laying with his little fingers and toes together.  So sweet!

baby boy blue blanket side laying down Kingston ontario photographer

At this point Nathan decided it was time to wake up so we added a red wrap that Mom wanted to add a splash of to control the flailing about a bit and focus on his face.

baby boy red wrap blue backdrop Kingston ontario newborn photographer

red wrap baby boy blue blanket Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy red wrap blue blanket Kingston ontario photographer

I put him in a really sweet textured romper next but then it was like I spoke too soon and we had a bit of a poop emergency and had to quickly take that off of him.  You can tell here that Nathan was quite impressed with himself lol.

black and white baby boy eyes open Kingston ontario newborn photographer

It took a bit of finessing but Nathan’s last pose while he was semi-awake was in this infamous Hunter crate that little Jacob had been in when he was little.  Mom was beside him the whole time and has been edited out of the portrait for safety reasons as it would be unsafe to leave him in a crate in this position without a spotter near by.

baby boy brown fur flokati wood floor Kingston ontario newborn photographer

baby boy fur crate Kingston ontario newborn photographer

So as you can see we had a lot of fun for sure and took adorable portraits of Nathan that his family loves!  I’m looking forward to seeing Nathan as he grows!

If you would like to book in your newborn portraits with a focus on family portraits like Nathan’s family did then I would love to hear from you!  You can reach me at the Become a Client page and we’ll start planning your newborn’s photography session right away!

Have a great day!

Jen