Maternity

Maternity sessions seem to be a bit more en vogue these days. Some new parents utilize these sessions as a way to announce the impending arrival of their little one or even to reveal the sex of the baby. Other moms-to- be just want to document the moment through photography. Either way, these portraits can be a great way to showcase this very beautiful moment in a woman's life. Maternity portraits can be as varied as the personality of the subject they represent. Some expectant mothers will opt to include their husband and older children in the session. Others decide that they want to keep it a bit more simple and limit it to themselves only. Either way, we have some excellent options for capturing this exciting time.

We suggest a bit of planning should go into this session as well. We usually direct prospective clients to visit Google and type in “maternity portrait” and initiate an image search. This little trick will instantly provide you with hundreds, if not thousands, of sample images to view. Maternity portraits can vary from “mild” to “wild” so be prepared for the different styles you'll end up seeing. Once you've gotten an idea of the different options available to you, we recommend saving a number of the images that appeal to you and sharing them with us so we can prepare for your session. Obviously, you can utilize Pinterest for this as well. Some mothers want a very simple, traditional approach to their portraits, others want to be a bit more daring. Whatever your choice, the images you select should give us a good idea of what direction you'd like to go.

Maternity session                                                                50

This one and a half hour session will result in more than 50 images for you to select from. We begin the session off indoors, creating some very artistically lit images that showcase your beautiful baby bump. We then move outside to utilize many of the gorgeous outdoor options that our multi-acre area provides. You can also opt to go on-location if there is a specific spot that you have in mind.

Newborns

We've been photographing tiny babies ever since Anne Geddes starting making the world aware of how beautiful a newborn portrait can be. However, we've really kicked it up a notch in the past year or so. Recently, Sherry and Kash have been working as a team to create the amazingly artistic newborn images you see here in our gallery. Newborn sessions take a good bit of planning and can be very challenging, but when you have two professionals working hard to create the images, it does make it much easier on a new mother. Sherry is our baby whisperer. She utilizes some very unique and subtle tricks of the trade to settle your baby and position them in the wonderfully cute poses that you see here. Kash is our portrait professional. He handles all of the technical aspects of the shoot to ensure the lighting and angles combine to make a perfect portrait of your little one. The benefit of working with two professionals is that you can sit back, relax and be somewhat of a spectator throughout the entire session.

If you are hoping to have your newborn photographed by us, please plan ahead for this session. Newborn sessions are best when the baby is less than 10 days old. We have many clients who contact us when their baby is one month or older. Unfortunately, by that age, they are too big and active to be photographed in this style. It is good to contact us while you are still pregnant to ensure we reserve a time for you on the schedule. Many new moms call us directly from the hospital, the day after the baby is born to nail down a specific time. We don't want you to get caught up in the busy first days and forget to have this done, as it is easy for many moms to do. These will be some of the most beautiful images you ever have of your child and they will be cherished for years to come.

Newborn Session                                                               50

This two to three hour session at our studio in Carrollton is usually scheduled for first thing in the morning as babies are much easier to work with at this time. We do block off two to three hours on the schedule and we quite often need all of it when creating these artistic newborn images. We traditionally create more than 50 images during this session, but your baby's level of cooperation tends to determine this. A fussy baby can cause us to get less than 50 while a very settled baby can result in many more to choose from.

Baby's First Year

Your baby's first year represents a whirlwind of changes that will pass by in the blink of an eye. It will seem as though just a minute has passed from the time that you bring your little one home until they're taking their first steps. Our two girls have grown up so fast and while we do remember how sweet they were when they were little, we're blessed to have beautiful portraits during their first years to remind us of how tiny they once were.

Babies will go through a series of developmental milestones over their first 12 months that are great opportunities for some timeless, first year portraits. Not all babies keep to this same schedule, some move through it faster and some a bit slower, but each of these stages are completely unique and cute as can be.

The Cradle Stage                                                             50

We consider the two to four month range to be the cradle stage. They're not really a newborn anymore, but they're not sitting up or crawling yet either. Three months is usually the best age for this portrait as your little one is still resting comfortably in a baby seat and has really begun to share some amazing smiles. Many babies have even begun to giggle at this age when they are truly tickled about something. Four months is sometimes a bit too old as they might have begun to not enjoy sitting in a baby seat. Many four month olds will arch their back and slide down in their seat, making it tough to capture this age. They are also just starting to lay on their tummy a bit. They can't do it perfectly yet, but we can occasionally capture some unique images nonetheless.

The Sitting Stage                                                             50

Most babies will begin to sit up at six months of age. Some might reach this milestone a bit early, some may not reach it until seven months or so. We've noticed over the years that petite babies sit up faster as they have less to balance, while larger babies take a bit more time to master it. The six month session is a wonderful opportunity for numerous, beautiful images. If your baby is still a bit wobbly, it's usually best to wait a bit for them to get more comfortable. A wobbly baby will not smile as well as a stable one when sitting up. They are nervous and concerned that they'll fall over and it preoccupies their attention during the session.

You'll also noticed that your baby has mastered rolling over by this stage. This means that your baby can push up on their tummy and to lay on their back and grab their toes. These are must have images at this age. They only do this for a short time. Once they've mastered crawling, you cannot easily capture this look again. Once they've begun to stand, they'll never do this again. They transition through these stages rather quickly.

The Standing Stage                                                      50

Once again, some babies will hit this milestone earlier than others, but most are mastering it by nine months old. Some petite girls will be walking as early as nine months and those early movers will be really fast by 12 months. But, this is the exception, not the rule. Most little ones don't take their first steps until they get closer to 12 months old. We've always enjoyed this stage as well. If you capture it as they're first standing they really have fun. It's like a whole new world has been opened up to them and the perspective of viewing the world from a standing position makes them giddy. You can wait and aim for this stage at a First Birthday session. They'll still do excellent during the appointment, but they might be a bit harder to keep in one spot once they've taken their first steps. This is also a great session to try some outside images if the season is warm.

The Birthday Session                                                    50

Your little one's birthday is finally here and as we mentioned earlier, the time has flown by. Birthday sessions are great to capture how we looked at our first birthday and to experience a cake smash. We've been photographing cake smash sessions since 1994. Our first 12 month old destroyed his cake in about three seconds. Most tend to need a bit of coaxing to get started and some even find the experience torturous. But, whatever happens, we still capture some very unique and playful images at this session. It goes without saying that we'll be doing the cake smash at the end of the session as your baby may end up covered from head to toe in icing. That isn't the norm, but it has happened before.

The above four sessions make up the range of options you have over the first 12 months of your baby's life. Some parents opt to capture each and every stage. However, we do realize that four sessions, in addition to a newborn session, can become overwhelming to new parents. That's why we created our Baby's First Year plan many years ago.

Baby's First Year Portrait Plan                                   125

This plan is a great way to capture all of the developmental stages of your baby's first year and get excellent discounts and bonuses built into it. First, it includes any three of the above sessions, which would normally result in $150 in session fees. Secondly, we provide a three opening, double matted frame that includes one 4x5 print from each of the three sessions you select. Finally, you'll receive bonuses added to your portrait orders that other clients will not receive. The total value of the program is $350, but we offer this to clients for $125 as a thank you for entrusting us with creating all your first year portraits.