When you capture that perfect moment

Ok, so this post most be kinda wordy. I’m going to touch just a little bit on newborn sessions, and why I am always pushing the point of them being so new and sleepy for them. Don’t get me wrong, I love a newborn to be wide eyed and alert, but in those first few weeks of life think about what an awake newborn baby is usually doing…eating, or searching for something to eat! An awake newborn is quite often a fussy or rooting newborn. And that also means they’re usually a squirmy baby too, hands in their face, legs dancing around (which makes those “modest” shots hard to get!).  So that’s why we try so hard to get babies in around a week old. They are still in that little hibernation mode, sleeping most of the time. That means we can curl them up and do all these sweet poses, and mom and dad can snuggle them or hold them easily in their hands without any fear of baby lurching away. Once babies are a few weeks old, the sleepy stages get more and more spaced out. Baby is more likely to be awake (arms and legs a’ moving!) and often times fussy during the session.

Now back to the rarer times when a teeny tiny newborn is awake, and NOT fussing or looking for food. Eye contact is tricky, often times new babies get that cute little cross eyed look when they’re trying to focus, or more often than that they catch the bright light of the studio light (or window) and will stare into that. So it’s a rare treat when a brand new little baby has that peaceful moment of awakeness yet is able to make clear eye contact. And when it does happen – it’s oh so sweet. If only they all did this at least once during their session!

So for all that babble, here is the last little newborn that I photographed, and his perfectly alert little self. He did sleep most of the time, but he had a great little balance of being sleepy and awake and content.