Natural newborn session with baby Ari

It was such a thrill to get an email of the news that Baby Ari had arrived into this world. Two years ago I photographed the wedding of his parents Kelli and Pete (during that brief time in my career when I did weddings) and so the opportunity to photograph them as a family was such a privilege.

I always start with the baby wrapped up. Wrapping helps babies to settle and feel safe

which is so important to me when a baby comes into my studio. I take a few different shots and angles of them wrapped up, and sometimes add a hat too if the parents would like that.

From here, I start to slowly unwrap, starting with the feet! I LOVE baby feet so much so I am always sure to get a few shots of them!

Then I unwrap further and work hard with shushing and keeping my hands on the baby to keep them settled. Because I work in a natural way with no real posing or use of props, I don't mind if your baby wakes up. My aim is just to always keep them settled whether they are awake or asleep.

At this stage I might pop a blanket over the baby to give a bit of a different look. Ari's parents brought a special blanket with them so we used that, and also did a shot with a plain white blanket.

I never want you to forget those tiny details so along with the feet I did earlier, I get the hands, lips and eyelashes in close up detail shots.

Ari was super settled and sleep so I took his onesie off right at the end of the shoot to get some shots with some bare skin. Babies don't really like being uncovered or naked so it really depends on the baby for these shots. He woke up when I did this which allowed me to get these gorgeous stretching and yawning shots as well as images with his eyes open which are I love!

Welcome to the world Ari. Your parents are kind, loving, fun and love adventure. You are going to have a wonderful childhood - I just know it!