Why have a older baby milestones, or ‘sitter’ session with Victoria Louise Photo studio?

Babies grow incredibly quickly in their first year of life, more than any other time in their life and photographing these milestones can allow you to capture this evolving change in development and have a visual experience of your babies first year.

What is the difference between a ‘older baby milestones photoshoot’ and a ‘sitter session’?

You will see baby photographers have ‘sitters’ labeled on their sessions and this is simply when your baby is able to sit up by themselves. Why is this such a good time to take photos? Because you can have a better range of images, not only is it a huge milestone in your babies development, but it also makes for a good session. Now that your baby will be able to sit up and use props to have a wide variety of photos taken, they will also be very expressional with the face to make adorable pictures with their cheeky smile!

When I say ‘Milestones’ what I mean is the moments between the newborn stage of 1-2 months, and just before they can sit up confidently and have a sitter sesion. Some families miss the newborn stage, but still want photos and they can do this before having to wait till their baby can sit up. This is around 2-5 months old and this is the older baby milestones session, because your baby will still be reaching different abilities during this time.

During my milestones sessions I photograph babies laid down on different fabrics, have tummy time if they are able to, and use props to allow them to be upright and then I add teddies and little props to make cute photos of your lovely baby. That being said, I am not too prop heavy, therefore images will be simple and focus on your baby.

Why hire a photographer again after having newborn photos for a sitter session 6 months later?

Because your baby will have changed so much by then, they would have gained extra developmental skills like moving from rolling, to sitting and even crawling. (Every baby is different, so don’t worry if your baby hasn’t managed a developmental milestone yet) Your baby would have found their feet and really be exploring the world by now, and it really captures your babies journey in their 1st year.

What’s a cake smash photoshoot and do you do them?

This is a photoshoot for your babies 1st birthday, usually involving a big cake that they get to smash into and eat, followed by some tub time to splash about in and get cleaned up. I used to offer these sessions, but now I don’t do the cake smashing bit, but I do a 1st birthday photoshoot with some celebration pictures to capture this huge milestone in my ‘watch me grow’ package.

What’s a ‘Watch me grow’ package

My watch me grow package is perfect for parents who want to capture their babies first year of life so it involves 4 photoshoots all around these developmental milestones so:

Photoshoot 1: Newborn (Either posed or natural)

Photoshoot 2: Milestone session aged 4 months.

Photoshoot 3: Sitter session aged 9 months.

Photoshoot 4: 1st birthday celebration photoshoot.

How do you prepare for and what do you bring for a older baby milestone photoshoot?

As your baby is older and have an established feeding routine, however your baby might have colic, or be teething by this point. So it’s best to pay attention to when they are at their happiest and schedule your session for then.

Also, do you want your baby asleep during the session or awake? if you want your baby sleeping, it’s best to schedule your session for when your baby naps and keep them entertained beforehand so that they are extra sleepy. However, if you want them awake for their session, it’s best to schedule a session for after they have napped, so they are awake and ready to go!

Due to being completely baby led, if your baby is struggling during the session and not settling and I feel like I’m not getting high quality pictures, I will suggest that we re-scedule free of charge and that you come back. Having children and experience I know that you can’t force a baby to do anything and sometimes they have bad days, growth spurts, colic, teething and I don’t think it’s fair to ‘push on’ and force anyone to be uncomfortable.

What to bring? Bring 3-4 outfits (we might not use them all) Bring anything that is sentimental and that you want photographed like a blanket Granny has mde, anything personalized, your baby scan, photo of a loved one, or a work uniform if you work in the public sector like fireman/policeman ect. Don’t forget their usuals like some feeds, nappies and a dummy.

How do you prepare and what do you bring for a sitter photoshoot?

The ideal window for a ‘sitter’ shoot is when they can confidently sit up, but can’t quite crawl too much, but of course every baby is different. For an instant my daughter could sit up from 5 months and could crawl a couple of months later, but couldn’t walk until she was 16 months. Whereby my son could crawl at 5 and a half months, yet couldn’t sit up until he was almost 8 months and was walking by his 1st birthday; so every single baby is different. We say ideally not crawling, only because they are harder to keep still to photograph when they are busy little bees ha ha

It’s about scheduling your session for the best time for your baby; when your baby is the happiest. Ccapturing your baby when they are the most comfortable and smiley, so you get the best images from them. It’s no good scheduling a session before lunch if they get crabby when their hungry, or in the afternoon if they are sleepy ect. Being baby led I want to work with your baby and make sure they are having a great time too and this is a playdate for them. That being said, if they are struggling in their session, I rather offer a free re-schedule so that you come back, because I’d hate for them to feel uncomfortable and you all not have a good relaxed session and you be stressed, because no one wants that do they?!

What to bring? Bring around 2-3 outfits and I do have some if you’d like to use them, bring some snacks, a bottle of milk or water, anything sentimental that you’d like in your baby photographed with like their newborn portrait, or favorite toy. This is also an ideal time to bring pets along, because your baby would have started developing a relationship and bond with your pet dog or cat for instance.

What to expect after you have had your baby photoshoot:

After your photoshoot has finished, I will ask you if you would like to see the products that I have to offer, if you didn’t have a consultation. You can then feel the quality and be able to have a think of what you may like to order. We will set a date for the reveal and ordering session with you.

Culling and editing process: I will go through all the photos from the photoshoot and pick the best images to edit and bring them to their potential. Depending on how the session went the number of images can vary from 15-25 images that I will present you in your gallery.

Sneak peek: After processing the images, I will post a sneak peek on my Facebook fan page (if you wish to have your images shared online) This image will have my photographers’ signature on, you can tag yourself; friends and family in your image and share it from my page. I ask of you not to crop out my signature or edit my photographs in any way, including Instagram filters.

Reveal and ordering session: This is generally held at my studio and usually takes around 30 minutes. Please arrange childcare for this session so we can have full focus on your photos. Online galleries are available if you are really pushed for time, however I like to personal approach. Payment can be done in cash on the day, or online via bacs or PayPal.

Your print order: Prints take 3-5 days to arrive and products take 3-4 weeks before they will be ready for collection or postal delivery. Once you have collected your prints, I will upload some web images on my portfolio, if your happy for me to. I ask of you not to crop out my signature or edit my photographs in any way. I will check with you that your prints/products are OK a day after you have collected them and ask for a honest feedback review and that is our journey complete.

Consultations:

I offer free consultations; this is ideally done at my studio so that you can come and have a look around, meet me in person, see the products I offer, view an entire gallery to view to see exactly what to expect from me and what you’re getting, ask any questions you have and make sure I’m the right family portrait photographer for you. Because as a mum I know all too well the importance of making right decisions when investing into something so special, when there is no rewind button for time!

Want to book in? You can do here.

I hope this gives you all the information you need to book me, looking forward to hearing from you, love and light Victoria Louise.