Tips with helping prepare your toddler for your newborn session

The Sibling shot - this is the one that everyone wants, but as some of my previous clients know, it's not always the easiest if the sibling won't play ball.

We all know how stubborn a toddler or young child can sometimes be and it's one of those things that just can not be forced if they do not want to do it!!

📸 Here are some tips to help prepare your older sibling to steal the show with willingness, smiles and a dash of adorable chaos 😅 🤣

1️⃣ BUILD EXCITEMENT - Talk to your child about the upcoming photoshoot, talk about how awesome it will be to get this photo of them both. Get them hyped up and looking forward to the day!

2️⃣ SHOW THEM PHOTOS - Show them some photographs of other children doing the sibling poses from my website (this page is a good start but there’s more in my main gallery here ). Have game of spotting the big brothers and sisters as the photos slide by and what are they doing - eyes closed, smiling at camera or kissing their new baby? Get them really thinking about these photographs. Show them how happy and proud the little girls and boys look & how excited YOU are to get the same photo to hang on the walls in your own home. It’s their time to shine next time!

3️⃣ PRACTICE TOGETHER - Spend some time practising gentle interactions with baby. Maybe even practise laying them down on their backs with baby snuggled in together under careful supervision.

4️⃣ SHARE MY NAME - Talk about who I am, along with my name and what a nice lady I am before the session (I really am a nice Karen unlike the meme!! 😄)  this may help create a sense of familiarity and put them a little more at ease knowing a friendly lady is behind the camera. ( Here’s my mug shot to help them feel more familiar with me!) Let them know I’m there to capture these special family moments and to help them feel comfortable and happy.

5️⃣ ENCOURAGE QUESTIONS - Let your older sibling ask questions about the photoshoot. Answering their curious thoughts can help ease any uncertainties they might have. The more they know, the more comfortable they'll feel.

6️⃣ SHARE A SPECIAL MOMENT - Share a story or a memory and a photograph of when they were a tiny baby. Remind them how adorable and cherished they were, this helps create a connection their own babyhood and the new baby.

7️⃣ BE THE DIRECTOR -  Allow them to suggest the next way they could place their arms or a funny face they could pull after we get the cute smiling one, we may not use this photo, but it makes them feel a little more empowered and involved.

8️⃣ BRING THEIR FAVOURITE TOY - Invite your child to bring their most cherished toy or teddy bear. It can act as a comfort item and help them feel more at ease, bringing a sense of familiarity to the studio. As an added bit of fun for them, I can capture an image of their beloved teddy next to their new baby brother or sister before their turn. I’ll share the back of my camera with them to show them the heartwarming photo! It adds another touch of fun and involvement, making the experience more memorable and enjoyable for your little one!

9️⃣ SNACK ATTACK - Bring along some favourite snacks (non messy for the face please or bring wet wipes!) These can be small rewards for their co cooperation. A little bribery with tasty treats never hurt anyone, right?!

🔟 PRAISE AND PATIENCE- Throughout the photoshoot offer lots of praise.  Calm and positive reinforcement goes a long way in making the experience enjoyable for them! If your little one needs a break or just isn’t feeling the photo vibe at that moment, it’s okay, we can try again later or try something a little more candid. Sometimes the unplanned shots turn out to be the most heartwarming.

Outdoor Fun Family Photoshoots in Wellington, Somerset

I’m usually a studio only photographer, but I decided to give outdoor shoots a go this summer and I loved it!

The children can run around and play, it’s all about capturing them being themselves.

These sessions are the absolute opposite of a studio session, where often bribery is needed to make your little whirlwind sit still for just one more photo!! Outdoors, your children can be free, to jump, run, explore and to play rough & tumble with their siblings!

These sessions will be limited to certain times of the year and will be held in my favourite shooting spots in Wellington.

Here’s some of my favourite images from the summer sessions.

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Get in touch now if you’d like to book a fun family session for Autumn x

Why not pull out all the stops for your Autumn family portraits and carve out some pumpkins like my crazy daughter’s family did!!!

What to wear for my Boho inspired Lifestyle Session?

The modern bohemian look is massive at the moment, from fashion, to interiors and photo shoots alike. Lots of neutrals and earthy colour palettes, plants and dried grasses, layers of cushions and blankets with a multi cultural melange of textured and patterned elements.

It’s a look I adore, so I couldn’t wait to create the ‘boho bed set up’ for a ‘lifestyle’ approach for a newborn photography session. The boho look works so well with those preferring the more natural newborn photography, unposed and relaxed but bang on trend. These sessions will capture the beautiful bond between you all, in a beautiful set-up.

Lifestyle Photography means the images are taken in a candid reportage style, usually in the clients home. But let’s face it, not all of us have the picture perfect home, or if we do, it’s going to be difficult to clear away the everyday clutter once little bundle arrives!

So you’ve booked a session and now wondering what you all should wear?

Colour clothing picked similar from the colour blocks above are perfect, think earthy tones and neutrals- creams, browns and greys. As one client said to me “ we’ve come in varying shades of builders sand!” And they looked perfect in their sandy hues!

Single block colours work the best but textures work wonderfully well too, like knit, linen and lace.

This family below, came in different earthy tones and although this was a different session, you can see how the complimentary hues really work well together.

Here’s a little helping hand - If you’re happy to purchase a few items or just click the links for the ideas! -

DAD &/OR SIBLINGS - If dad or another family member doesn’t have clothing items in these colours, then just jeans/shorts and a single colour T will be fine, white or grey would be good. Finding plain T-shirts in the shops these days is a bit of a mission, so here’s a link to some cheap plain one’s I found for adult men on eBay in browns, sands and dark greens - Ebay and the same for children in loads of different ages and colours - Ebay

BABY &/OR SIBLINGS - Some beautiful items to be found on Etsy ! Here’s some links to some of my most favourite items, you’ll get the idea by just looking at these and you should be able to find similar items in the high street stores and/or online -

Rainbow Romper , Linen and Cotton Romper , Knitted Romper , Alpaca Knit romper , Knit Romper , Feathered Romper , Rainbow Romper , Beige Romper

Again, if you don’t have anything similar, then just a plain white vest or baby-gro will work beautifully too.

I have little baby rompers in the studio that you can borrow. I also have many beautiful knitted wraps/blankets to drape over baby instead if you’d prefer.

MUM’s - Please consider, if you’d like to include some breast feeding images, a dress or top that you can easily feed from. You are welcome to bring along two outfits so one outfit can be for the nursing shots. Here’s some idea’s of the kind’s of dresses/ clothing that would work well from Pinterest -

Cream Dress , Simple Items , Rust dress- Newlook , Linen Midi Dress , Brown Cami Dress- Gap , Brown Dress .

Of course, if you don’t have anything remotely similar, then please do not worry. Ultimately these are your photographs and I want you to be comfortable and like what you are all wearing. These are just my suggestions of what would work well if you wanted guidance.

As always, if you’re unsure, please feel free to take a quick snap of any of your outfit ideas and send to me and we can narrow it down/decide together or just pop it all in a bag on the day and we can decide at your session.

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PERSONALISING THE SET-UP - If you have this boho vibe going on in your own home decor, then please do feel free to bring along any cushions, throws, wall hanging, dried flowers or blankets that you would like to add or swap out for your session.

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I hope you have found this little guide helpful :)

I look forward to meeting you soon,

Karen x

What if my newborn baby doesn’t sleep for the photo shoot?

It’s a question I get asked frequently - ‘What if my baby doesn’t sleep for the photo shoot?’ And the quick answer is, it really doesn’t matter if they don’t sleep. We can get some natural wide eyes awake shots that you will adore! And most newborns, given a warm room, a snug swaddle, some white noise and a belly of milk will eventually drop off!

As long as baby is happy, settled and calm, it’s always lovely to get a few of these open eyed shots anyway.

It can sometimes takes a little longer to get these kinds of photographs as firstly newborns don’t yet have control over their muscles, so their arm movements are very jerky and they’re usually waving them around everywhere! If they are laying on their back without a blanket/swaddle they are often startled by the Moro reflex or startle reflex. Sometimes it’s helpful if mum or dad sit next to me and place their own hands over baby’s with some gentle pressure, so they feel relaxed and safe

Secondly, they will nearly always turn their head just as I’m about to take the shot! Newborns tend to prefer to have their heads laid to the side as they were in the womb, so I place some stuffers either side of their head to gently prop their little faces looking straight up at me. So sometimes, waiting for that perfect shot can take some patience (and don’t worry- I have plenty of that!)

And thirdly, due to their immature nervous system and weak facial muscles, newborns do pull the funniest of faces and because their eye muscles are not yet strong enough to hold their eyes in one place or to focus on a single object for long, we often have crossed eyes. So I patiently wait with my finger hovering over the the shutter button for a relaxed looking face.

The funny faces out-takes can be just as adorable though! It shows the beginnings of their little personalities and facial expressions coming through so I’ll add them in the gallery if we get a couple of these cute ones too.

After I’ve got a few of these natural awake shots and if they still aren’t showing any signs of sleep, I wrap them up in a snug swaddle so they are all cosy and warm and this will nearly always soothe a restless baby. A swaddle contains their arms and legs which prevents baby’s startle reflex, which in turn stops them from startling themselves awake with their flailing limbs. Most baby’s enjoy being swaddled as they feel secure just like in the womb.

I start with a base wrap to keep them secure and then the top layer can be changed to give colour and texture variety and I then take some more photos. If a baby is swaddled, I can place them into a prop safely. I prefer not to put unwrapped awake babies into props with harder edges because of their startle reflex and unpredictable jerky movements.

I have the room nice and warm and have some white noise playing in the background.

Most Baby’s at this point begin to yawn and the eyes start to close.

Did you yawn then?! ( I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yawned creating this post 😂)

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A lot of the images you see on my website are of posed newborns and of course you can’t pose an awake baby. Most newborns do drop off eventually and then we can get those images .

Here a few tips on making sure baby is sleepy for the session.

1. If you are breast feeding, it may help to not eat spicy or acidic foods or drink caffeine in the 48 hours prior to your session as this could possibly make baby unsettled.

2.  If you can, on the morning of your session, try and keep little one awake for a bit with a little interaction. Perhaps give them a little bath. If your baby has slept solidly for the 3 hours prior to your session then we may not get many posed, sleepy shots.

3. Try to time a feed just before you leave or on arrival at my home. A full baby means a sleepy baby so a top up of milk before we begin is usually a good idea.

4. Dress your baby in a simple loose sleeper that doesn’t have to be lifted off over the head so we can undress them without too much disturbance, just incase baby is sleeping soundly on arrival. If your baby is awake when you arrive, it is best to undress them first, loosen the nappy and then wrap them in a blanket before that extra top up. Otherwise your baby may get upset at being undressed when they are all nice and cozy.

5. If you are using or considering using a dummy please bring it along. It can be a huge lifesaver when baby continuously wants to feed/suckle for comfort. Sometimes it really is the difference of getting that shot or not. 

Hopefully this will reassure you that even if your baby doesn’t fall asleep right away, we can still get lots of lovely photographs for you. We may not get every single sleepy set-up that you had wanted in some cases, but we will still make some beautiful memories for you to have always, to remember all those tiny little details that fade with time. ❤️

I look forward to meeting you soon,

Karen x

Award winning!

As some of you may know, I am a registered member of the Guild of Photographers and I recently won some awards for my work which I’m over the moon about! But just what do these awards mean?…….

Well it actually means a lot in the world of photography and an incredible personal achievement and recognition for my work!

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This image received a ‘high Bronze’ meaning I was very close to receiving a silver!

The Guild of Professional Photographers is a highly regarded association for those committed to the art of photography. Each month they run an ‘Image of the Month’ competition which attracts thousands of entries.

The images are accessed by a full panel of highly experienced judges who grade each image with a highly critical eye in accordance with the international judging criteria some of which includes:

-Impact

-Technical excellence

-Lighting

-Presentation

-Creativity

-Colour balance

-Composition etc etc.

Then the higher scoring images receive a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum (no one has ever achieved the platinum!) and the rest are either ‘not scored’ or ‘classified’.

In the Guild of photographers own words -

A Platinum Bar -Images of exceptional or outstanding quality (only awarded to the ultimate of images)

A Gold Bar -Images of particular distinction (very rare)

A Silver Bar - Images that are very well crafted (difficult to achieve)

A Bronze Bar - Images of a strong standard at a national competition level (something to be proud of)

(Those scoring a High Bronze, not far from Silver will be notified, for personal information)

Classified .. Images of a standard worthy of acknowledgement relevant to the genre entered but which are not deemed award winning at national competition level.
Not scored .. Images that do not reach our 'Classified' level score will not be given a grade.

These images of my daughter below, also received ‘high’ Bronzes.

Although I’ve been a member for years, I’ve only ever entered sporadically when I’ve remembered, so this year I will be aiming to enter every month with a goal to be continuously improving my photography (as always) and bag myself a silver! 🤞

I hope that I will be producing some award winning images for you this year! As always please contact me if you have any questions :)

Karen x

What to wear for a newborn photoshoot?

Clothes can often make or break an image so a little forward planning goes a long way.

Plain and simple will create timeless portraits and one solid colour usually works best.

Another massively important consideration is co-ordinating with your husband/wife/partner. So wearing clothes of similar or complementing hues.

Try to avoid big busy crazy patterns or tops with big logo’s on the front.

Avoid thin stripes, small check, small herring-bone/gingham where possible as this causes weird distortions in digital imagery. It is called moiré. It occurs when fabric photographed contains repetitive details that exceed the sensor resolution. The camera then produces a strange wavy pattern that is quite distracting.

Tighter fitting clothes often work better than big baggy tops, especially on the arms, sometimes baggy can make you look bigger. If you are feeling self conscious about any body parts, I can pose you in ways that will help certain areas.

Darker colours will recede (and tend to slenderise) lighter colours come forward. 

Avoid white and especially really bright/neon if possible as this will be the brightest most distracting thing in the photograph and the viewers eye will be drawn to your top instead of your faces, we want the viewer to look straight into your eyes (or just your face if your eyes are closed).

If you want to wear white/ light clothing, it works much better if both parents are wearing white/light items.

Don’t over accessorise, overbearing or heavily noticeable jewellery can be too distracting, we want your new baby to be the star of the photographs!

Make-up - If you do get a chance in the morning, do your hair and if you usually wear make-up, pop some on, even more than you perhaps usually would in the daytime, go for out-out make up! It not only looks good in photographs but you’ll feel so much better too! Please make sure that you either have no nail varnish on or freshly painted nails please, no chipped polish please!

I have plain fabric that I can wrap around mum if you’d like more of a skin on skin image. Let me know ahead of time if you’d like some body wraps. And of course, dads can take their tops off if they are feeling brave!

Of course you don’t always need to stick to dark colours. This mum came in a gorgeous mustard top which complimented the copper tones in her hair perfectly. As the photo shoot was around Autumn time and the family liked the autumnal colour palette, we wrapped baby in a dark leafy green wrap and the finished image was just stunning!

I photograph you on a black background or sometimes in front of my light for a light backlit shot- these are shot specifically for black and white photographs.

I have recently had a lightbulb moment 💡It’s so simple- but I realised I could clip fabric to my pop up backdrop to provide some different colour options for the parent shots - I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner (honestly I shock myself sometimes 😂🙈). This little revelation of mine was discovered during lockdown so I’ll be needing some guinea pigs to test out some new colours for me during the parent photographs once lockdown is over. Here’s some examples of other colours that I did with my daughter during lockdown- click here

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I hope these little tips and nuggets of advice have helped you to decide on what to wear for your newborn photo session.

Ultimately, these are your photographs, so wear what YOU feel most comfortable in!

One last thing to remember is it is very warm in the room whilst we are doing the newborn shoot. Remember to bring along another change of clothes, perhaps some layers for you to remove if you start getting too hot! And if you’re breastfeeding, consider clothing for this also. I’ve had so many mums just focused on what to wear for the parent shots and realise they’ve bought nothing else and the top/dress they wore to be photographed in is not practical at all for breastfeeding! ( In this instance, I can always help you with a blanket to wrap around yourself if you should need it!)

During a longer standard newborn session, I’ve recently started doing the parent portraits at the beginning to save parents from getting too hot and flustered and makeup smudging come the end of a long session. This seems to be working better!

I look forward to meeting you soon,

Karen x

Before and after 'Fine Art' Portraits.

BEFORE & AFTER ‘FINE ART’ PORTRAITS

Is she wearing make up? No :)

Have I enhanced what is already there? Yes!

I thought it would be fun to show you the ‘before and after’s of my daughters recent photo shoot that I did with her.

I am in love with this style of photography- The dark and moody, calm and serene, she looks like her pet goldfish has just died, however you want to describe it! I love it!

I think this style of portraiture is just beautiful and would look absolutely amazing printed out large in a beautiful ornate frame hanging in the family home for years to come, a timeless and classic portrait, and then to be passed down through the generations.

A lot of time goes into the post production of these kinds of images. I use photoshop and a few different plug-ins to apply high-end retouching and hand editing to each single image.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears -okay maybe just the sweat and tears (and the piles of 💷💰 on training courses) have gone into learning how to edit like this. It has taken me years to learn these skills and develop and perfect my style, something I am finally very proud of.

I always shoot in raw and purposely shoot slightly underexposed for these kinds of images so I have room to play with light in photoshop without blowing my highlights.

So here they are, my SOOC ( straight out of camera) images next to the finished piece-

As you can see, I’ve not changed her features, only enhanced them. I’ve also worked with the light and shadows to sculpt her face and really make the image pop!

And then finally this one. I decided to add something to the background ( See the second and third images) I’ve seen the most beautiful of backdrops that have a painterly floral design from the United States, but I’d have to sell one of my kidneys to afford one (slight exaggeration there). So, not ready to invest in one quite yet, I decided to grab an image that I had taken of some pretty flowers a few years back and add it to the background. It’s only very subtle but I didn’t want it to subtract from the main focus of the portrait, but wanted to give it a tiny little something extra!

Guess what I’ll be doing this summer when I’m out and about with my camera! 📸 🌸

And here is the image that I took the flowers from -

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Fine Art Child portrait sessions coming soon!

I was going to wait until I finally get a studio space before offering these sessions so that I can also get full length portraits to include for you, but I figured, like my maternity images, that I could just offer what I can already do, and give a gallery of a few images from the waist up. We can change outfits for variation.

Here’s my new page offering ‘Child fine art portraits’

Obviously we’ll have to wait until we are out of lockdown before we can book dates but taking deposits now, fingers crossed by spring. 🤞

Karen x

Finley's newborn session and mum's story.

Our pregnancy was something we had looked forward to and planned.  It wasn’t quite what we had expected with a global pandemic putting us into lockdown shortly after sharing the news with loved ones and us not being able to attend the scans and antenatal appointments together, but it was a cherished time and we feel lucky that we didn’t receive any news that would have been hard to stomach on my own.  

At the beginning of my pregnancy I was quite sick with ‘morning’ sickness, and the push toward working at home enabled me to continue working more comfortably rather than facing a commute that was becoming harder to manage. 

At our 20 week scan I was told I had Placenta Previa, which is quite common but would be something that could have affected my options of a natural birth if this had not moved by 36 weeks. Due to this and the Bracken Unit still being closed for refurbishment due to the pandemic, I was quite late in deciding what my birth preferences were. I opted for a water birth and was very lucky that when the time came, the only pool on the labour ward at Musgrove had just become vacant. 

The actual labour was far quicker than I expected and was 2 days before my due date and the first day of my maternity leave. 

(Baby is safely on the posing bed in this image and NOT actually suspended- SAFETY FIRST!)

At 7am I woke to my waters breaking, but I did not have any contractions. I called the hospital for advice and due to not having contractions at the time, they said to have some breakfast and a shower before coming in to get assessed. By 7.30am the contractions began and very quickly escalated, by 9am we were on our way to hospital and the pains were becoming hard to talk or walk through.

Due to the covid restrictions I had to enter triage by myself and my partner had to wait outside. About 30 minutes after arriving my partner was allowed in after being told I was already 7cm dilated. I was moved to the birthing pool room on the labour ward and was in the pool by 10.20. At 12.30 our ‘little’ 9 lbs 13 oz baby boy was born. Finley James. It was an amazing experience and we were soon ready to return home. 

We had already made contact with Karen prior to the birth after seeing some of her work being recommended on a local Facebook page, we knew straight away she was who we wanted to book. The booking process was easy and after the birth we were soon able to confirm the actual session date with Karen.

On the day, despite amended protocol, Karen made the environment very relaxing for Finley and us, and took her time to ensure he was comfortable. This allowed us time to feed him and get him sleepy for the perfect pictures. There was plenty of choice with props and set ups and our favourite parts of the session included seeing how good the photographs were coming out on the camera and how good Karen was with him. This confirmed that we had made the right choice of photographer. Karen took her time to make sure everyone was happy and I would always recommend her to other parents.

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Thank you so much to this lovely family for taking part in these pregnancy and birth story’s blog posts and for your kind words, it means the world :)

Karen x

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