Newborn baby photography - any recommendations?

[podmumlet]

Hi ladies,

I am 35 weeks pregnant and starting to really think about welcoming little baby into the world. I am convinced the first few precious weeks will pass by so quickly and in such a haze, that I was thinking of trying to capture some of it in a photoshoot.

I am particularly looking for a newborn baby studio shoot (possibly black n white photography) that has some piccies of baby lying on dad's arms, or over my chest with baby's head cradled in my neck and dad holding us both.. or something like that...? As a comparison, I am looking for something less funky than the Venture Photography studios, something more classic (if that makes sense?).

Any recommendations for newborn baby photographers in London?

And any idea what a reasonable price range would be?

Many thanks for any/all recommendations :) :)

Most of the studios make their money from the prints, so while a shoot may only cost you £40 (or often offered for free in promotions), every 8x10 print will be another £40-60, rising to hundreds for the larger wall prints. You sound like you might want to buy several prints at the end of the shoot, so I would recommend you're better off finding a freelance photographer, who might charge you in the region of £100/hr for a shoot, but then let you have all the subsequent digital images, to have reproduced as you wish. Upload those to a site like Photobox, and you'll pay maybe £2-3 per 8x10 print.

Do a yellow pages search for a freelance photographer. Ask them questions about the sort of work they do, and get a feel for someone who would put you and your family at ease. Then you can select your own location, or they might have a studio. Clicking with a photographer can take a while, and you'll probably find lots you don't get the right feel for, but you'll know when you've found a good one. If you have a good relationship, you might then ask him/her to come back several times to chart your child's growth.

I can recommend my DH.......

Would recommend Hannah Sherrington Photography (search on facebook).
Not in London, but may travel (and not too far away). Excellent photographer and great rates.

podmumlet - have sent you a private msg :) His rates are very reasonable and he can travel to you at home which is easier with a newborn :) He has just taken some beautiful photos of my nephew but he has not had a chance to add them to his website yet.

You get what you pay for with newborn photography!

At the lower end of the scale (£100 or so for all the digital images) you'll probably get some reasonable snaps, but probably not very post-processed. Skin will be blotchy, pink/red, baby acne still there etc etc and the poses may not be very inspired. It'll basically be photos of exactly what you see, and in a lot of cases you could probably do the same yourself with an entry level dSLR or even a decent compact/bridge camera.

At the higher end of the scale (think £500 upwards if you bought all the photos digitally or wanted a reasonable number of prints) you would get some lovely poses, beautiful skin tones, well lit and more like catalogue images or the photos you'd see in baby magazines. What you are paying for here is the time spent post-processing, which can run to 20-30 hours or more depending on how many proofs you get.

There are obviously photographers that fall somewhere in the middle too!

Whatever you do, make sure you look at the portfolios/galleries to be sure the style and standard is one you are happy with.

I'm a family photographer myself based in London (currently only doing newborns so as not to lug heavy gear around!) with prices towards the higher end of the scale and I visit the home as well, so PM me if you are interested and I will link you to my website :)

I would recommend either Maria Murray (www.mariamurray.co.uk/) or Chanelle Sergerius-Bruce (www.segeriusbruceblog.com/)

Both photographers shot my wedding in July and produced absolutely amazing results. I have not used their newborn photography service yet (as this is my first) but I am very impressed with the pictures I have seen.

Maria will be pricey however....

There are a lot of us in London :)

I second what Sparklies says about making sure you see a full portfolio's worth of work and really making sure it is the style you want.
Ask each photographer how long they have been in business - maybe ask them about having worked with film to get an idea of how long they have had their camera. IMO experience really does count for a lot, but it doesn't come cheap.

Look for people who specialise in children and newborns as photographing young babies requires special skill to do well.

I would recommend taking your time and choosing carefully as babies change so quickly that the opportunity to get newborn shots is quite a brief one.

Just had an amazing new born shoot for my first child. Carro of Wynyard in Wynyard just off the a19 did amazing. They had lots of props and things to make pretty pictures with my baby (for example they had baskets and things like that and different covers and backgrounds).

The pictures look absolutely great!!

Would defiantly recommend.

If anyone does want their baby pictures done too, ring them they do a great job. Kathryn, one of the photographers, made me feel really comfortable and it was just an overall experience especially when i am only 18 with my first child.

Whereabouts in London are you?

If you are in London - Anne Wo, Sandi Ford or Maria Murray are the ladies you need (and I'm a newborn photographer too so know a good one when I see them)

This is a zombie thread bumped by spammers.

The OPs "newborn" was born in 2010.