Older baby and family photography sessions with me

It has been a while since I blogged, so it felt like a good time for a refresher, I’m Jess, a Norwich based family and baby photographer. I’ve been capturing newborns and families for many years. I work from my home studio which is a sanctuary of calm compared to my adjoining house where I live with my husband, 2 children and Groot our beautiful doggy!

Covid, it robbed us all of so much didn’t it?

For me, it has impacted not only my business in the obvious way but also the opportunity for so many parents to capture their babies and create lasting memories through my photography. Each booking that had to be cancelled was devastating back then, but it got me to thinking about how we shouldn’t just focus on newborn photography but embrace the wonderful bits that come after that.

Let me tell you why capturing milestones across the full first year of life is just as important and exciting as photographing a newborn.

Older babies, and older babies with family sessions are beyond delicious.

They may not feature the same baby wrinkles, or the sleepy squishiness of a new born photography session, but oh my, they capture so much more… as babies get older and start to show us their personalities, their likes and dislikes, their expressions, their body language and more it’s a wonderful time to capture milestones in a way you may have never thought too.

Anyone coming to a photography session at my studio in Norwich; with older babies can opt to have a family session (yes mums, get in the pictures… you wont believe how much time you spend behind the camera as they grow up.) and I offer a variety of options from ‘older babies’ 6-9 months, to baby and family shoot which range from 4 months to toddlerhood.

As someone with a family myself and being highly trained and experienced, I want you to trust that I am intuitive with your session and won’t rush or push in any way.

I know that Covid has brought about a generation of potentially less outgoing babies and toddlers, of children who haven’t had the opportunity to engage socially as they would pre 2020 and that’s why the first and most important thing to day is that everything we do at my photography studio is led by you and your child/ren.

We take our time, we relax, we have fun with it… gentle placing and posing comes first and if that’s not ok with them then we stop, we eat snacks, I encourage family hugs (not with me of course!) and we try only when everyone is feeling relaxed.

The very best thing about this age, is you may have a child who is sitting up! Making this a wonderful age to photograph, capturing cheeky smiles, and from my experience little ones at this age have a real desire to interact, showing off all their newly learnt skills.

It’s always I important to me that you know about my training and experience, too often you hear about people simply ‘becoming’ baby photographers without taking the time to equip themselves with the skills required. From my perspective, this is an ongoing education and I will never not be learning in my industry.

When it comes to any of my shoots, its about your child, not props, I want to celebrate older babies in all their uniqueness and for that I don’t need tutus and baskets, simply a simple blanket and a family (if you are having a group shot)

I always encourage anyone looking to book a natural baby shoot to get in touch first and ask all the questions you need to ensure I’m the right person for you!