Sometimes I think parents are surprised (and maybe even a little panicked!) about the amount of time I spend behind my camera during a newborn session. In reality, these sessions are the most posing-intensive type of session I offer…unless you count chasing a two-year-old around with a camera as posing 😉 You can see just how much of my session is dedicated to posing in the pie chart below.To ease any anxiety and help future newborn clients know what to expect, I’m going to post a bit about my newborn posing workflow here. Baby Hunter makes an excellent model because of the simplicity of my set-ups for his shoot. Speaking of expectations, you might want to adjust them if your newborn is over two weeks old, was born breech, or has older siblings attending the session (please read my FAQs if you want to include siblings in the shoot.) Breech babies tend not to be super-flexible, although frank breech babies might actually prefer to be folded in half!

My sessions are usually 3-4 hours long, so I like to take shots with siblings first. That way big brother(s) or sister(s) can be picked up early by Grandma or Auntie so they don’t get restless/hungry/tired during the remainder of the shoot. Baby will likely be content as long as s/he is being held, even if s/he is not asleep.Although sometimes this happens… 🙂After sibling shots, I like to continue my newborn posing workflow with the taco pose on the beanbag. If baby is too fussy or gassy I may revisit this pose later in the session.I may also substitute a side-lying pose, like this, if baby isn’t comfortable in this position.