Why not to panic if you didn’t do newborn photos in the first two weeks…

There are a lot of people who will tell you that there are hard and fast rules on newborn photos. I’m here to tell you those people are wrong. So if you didn’t get newborn photos done in the first two weeks of life because you were busy keeping a baby alive and healing your body and somewhere in there getting a little sleep (maybe)- don’t panic. You didn’t blow it.

There are so many ways to document this new and exciting time in your life beyond putting your baby in a bowl or a flower pot (in those instances timing is a little more important since they require the baby to be asleep). There is another way. I prefer a more natural approach where babies can just be babies and the focus is on you as a family with lots of snuggles and plenty of sweet new baby details. When you look back at your photos, their little fingers and toes will still be teeny tiny at 1 month, 2 months, or 3 months. Not rushing into a traditional newborn shoot has the added advantage of capturing more of baby’s details - like their sweet expressions, their shiny eyes and first gummy smiles. As parents you start to feel more like yourselves again as time passes, more relaxed and find it easier to read baby’s cues. All of those things can be really advantageous during a photo shoot.

At the time of this session, baby C was 8 weeks old. The session was intentionally minimal and cozy in order to focus on connection and baby details. We even got some little smiles!

Veronica is portrait photographer based in Toronto, Ontario, specializing in families, maternity and newborns. She also loves working with entrepreneurs on headshots and personal branding.