Newborn photography with props or which are my favorite items I use every session.
What is the difference between newborn photography with props and lifestyle in-home sessions? Why did I choose to do baby photography? Why do I use props? Where do I supply my props from?
I often get asked how did I start my photography journey and how long have I been doing it.
Not many people know this, but I was a veterinarian before deciding to fully commit to photography. I love animals and I used to own dogs. I hade a chow chow kennel and of course, I started taking photos of my dogs. It soon became an obsession to be behind the camera and taking photos of dogs. Not too long after I got pregnant with my son Daniel and of course loved taking photos of him. The photos were totally different than what I am doing now. When we decided to move to Australia, I made the choice to drop my veterinary job and focus on my photography skills. I decided I want to do portraits, take photos of babies, children, and family. I started investing in education, took many online and in-person classes, and also needed to supply props, as 6 years ago “posed newborn photography” was at its peak.
I slowly started gathering buckets, baskets, wraps, rugs, backdrops, and let me tell you – it’s a HUGE investment. I took a workshop with one of Australia’s top newborn photographers – Erin Elizabeth from Erin Elizabeth Photography When I felt ready I started advertising my business in local mum groups. I slowly started building a portfolio. Of course, some of the props that I bought didn’t really feel right at some point, so during my 5 years in the business I upgraded, sold some of my stuff, bought new props. Basically it was all trial and error. What works for some photographers doesn’t necessarily work for me and vise versa.
Why I use props?
Well to be honest like I said this was the newborn photography style when I first started. I loved how cute babies looked in buckets and bowls. What I didn’t know is how amazingly hard it was to learn how to pose and how to keep babies asleep. It took years and so much practice and education to get to where I am now. Most of my clients don’t know that each pose takes 20-40 minutes, depending on how baby feels on that day. I admit I am a perfectionist and want to make things 100% perfect – how light falls on the baby’s face, straighten fingers, and so on.
I am so used to doing that now, that I am pretty sure I can pose babies in props with my eyes closed.
On the other hand, I started liking unposed lifestyle newborn photography more and more and offer it to my clients. I love the simplicity and the natural feel of this type of newborn session. It’s documentary photography. It captures a few hours of your new life with your brand new family member. We don’t need baby to be asleep, we don’t need perfect poses, all we need is raw and real moments.
Whether you chose posed newborn photography with props or lifestyle photography, please make sure to get familiar with the difference, make sure to choose the right photographer. Please don’t ask a lifestyle photographer to do posed photography if they haven’t done it. It takes lots of practice and safety is the number one priority!
Where do I find my props?
Most of my props came in from the Netherlands, the USA and just a bunch from Australia.
The little bed:
The little bed is definitely my favorite prop. It’s so cute and versatile. I use it for boys, and girls, also sometimes with twins. This prop is from the Original Photoblock props in the Netherlands.
Little drawer:
The drawer is also from the Original photoblock props in the Netherlands.
The little bucket:
This bucket is from Hello Little props from the USA. I love using the bucket but I admit is one of the hardest props and pose. Baby must be very sleepy.
Bowls:
I own a few bowls – different in size and colour – big green from Dutch style shop in the Netherlands, the rest are from an Australian vendor, unfortunately, I can’t remember the name 🙁
Other props – various baskets I have found during my outings in various antique shops:
I also love using flokati rugs. All rugs are from Dutch style shop.
These are just a small number of my props and wraps that I own. For more details, please contact me and book a free studio consultation.
