MATERNITY MINI SESSION
Our Maternity Mini Sessions days are held once per season and are incredibly limited. We are really excited that you’ve booked with us to capture this brief season of your journey.
Arrive at your allocated time and we can chat briefly about the types of images you are after. We can look through the studio wardrobe and gather the clothing you wish to be photographed in.
Then it’s time to get started!
Have a look through our Studio Wardrobe and let us know which dress you’d like to wear – you are welcome to try a couple if you wish and time permits and of course, some gorgeous bare-belly shots are perfection too if you’d like.
Wear light coloured underwear and treat yourself to something pretty! White coloured bra and undies work really well and look beautiful under all our dresses.
Go without a watch for the day to prevent marks on wrists.
We love jewellery to add interest to your imagery – bracelets, rings, earrings all look gorgeous. Bring along a selection if you need help choosing.
Take a few minutes to pamper yourself and neaten up hands and nails. If you are a ‘get nails done’ type of mumma then make sure they are fresh for the shoot as your hands will definitely be in the images!
If dad is coming along, encourage him to neaten up the nails and give the hands a good clean too.
Some mums love to get their hair and makeup date prior to their shoot and this is up to your personal preference. It can certainly add confidence, but isn’t a requirement.
Light makeup and a focus on lashes works well.
Take your hair out of a pony tail for the day so it dries naturally as pony-tail-kinks are a thing!
If you must, please go easy.
Fake tan lines are tricky to edit. It’s much easier for us to smooth skin if you are concerned about these things than it is to fix fake tan that hasn’t been applied quite right.
If partners are coming along it can also throw a very different skin colour tone between the two of you.
If in doubt, go with out. If you’re confident and it’s something you do all the time – bring it on!
The studio is at 28 Raglan Avenue, Edwardstown. Parking is available onsite either directly in front of the studio or down the drive way and to the right.
Arrive at your allocated time – we have allowed a small portion of your session time to sort out clothing and styling.
It’s important to arrive on time, unfortunately if you are late it will eat into your allocated time.
As much as possible, make sure siblings and partners are ready to roll as our time allocation is only short.
Unfortunately there isn’t time for snacks or clothing changes for the whole family – whilst we understand that little ones get hungry quickly, you’d be amazed at how long a toddler can take to eat a biscuit when they know time is precious!
Hold onto the snacks until the siblings are done with their images, then they can kick back and snack to their hearts content.
NEWBORN
These words are purely a guide. Nothing more.
We want to make sure your session feels like ‘you’ but also help you achieve gorgeous images with a few simple tips and tricks, both in terms of aesthetics (you’re here because you like the way our images look!) and in terms of the experience itself.
We want you to have a fabulous time, so when you look back on your images you are reminded of a beautiful time in your lives.
Dress baby in a simple onesie that doesn’t have to go over their heads to remove (if possible) and forgo a singlet for this trip, as we’ll probably undress them and wrap them in a simple wrap for their images, so that it’s easy to access the gorgeous newborn rolls.
Breast or bottle, we don’t care at all, as long as babe can have a feed if he/she needs.
More often than not, they’ll need a little settling feed as they are about to be passed around a little bit and, as gentle and calm as this is, sometimes the whole ‘getting out of the car’ thing wakes them more than usual and they need a little feed to be content again.
Absolutely not a requirement, but if there is a special blanket or Nanna’s knitted teddy that you’d included in the session, don’t forget to pop them in the bag and bring them along.
We have a few newborn nappies on hand just in case, but bring along anything you’d need for a few hours out of the house. if you forget anything we probably have it at the studio and can make do, so don’t stress.
We don’t want to mess with any routine that may (or may not) exist, but in a perfect world babe would have some awake time (depending on age) and a nice big feed before heading to the studio, ideally arriving nice and sleepy.
Having said that, the world isn’t perfect and if your babe is awake the whole session and needs 17 feeds, that’s totally fine too. we want a content/settled baby, that’s it. your babe will do whatever they need to do during the session, and it’s all completely perfect and 100% ok.
SIBLINGS
PSA: If you’ve been through the studio with your first newborn, we need to give a little warning. That session was probably lovely and zen and calm. You might have even been able to drink your coffee before it went cold.
This session won’t quite be like that. It will be louder. Messier.
BUT … when the planets align and the shots come together, your heart will burst with pride. Go with the flow.
Depending on the age of the older kiddo/s start talking to them about the session in advance to get them excited and so they know what’s going on. Keep it light and fun, and don’t hype it up too much. Depending on the age of your older children, you can tell them you’re all going to see ‘your friend, Kate’ or ‘we’re going to Kate’s house and she’s going to take some fun photos’.
If you have an anxious older kiddo, keep it low-key “my friend Kate wants to meet the baby”, so the pressure is off. “You might even be able to show Kate how well you can old sister!” and things like that help to ease an anxious kiddo (obviously don’t use this tip if older kiddo is scared of the new baby, which isn’t uncommon).
We’ll take it super slow and calm with the anxious child, gentle encouragement and kind direction works wonders.
More often than not, the older kiddo/toddler will give us about 15-20 minutes of broken attention before they ‘check out’ and need to play with the toy box.
If you have older siblings coming along to the session and they are not anxious we will probably move straight into your sibling shots and family images – the session will feel like it moves quite fast to begin with, but it’s really important that we move at the pace of the older child or children so they remain engaged and cooperative for as long as possible (and sometimes this is 2.7 seconds, and that’s fine!)
Once we have these really important images ‘in the bag’ we can start to drip feed the various toy boxes we have, bringing the kiddo/s into the images when/if they are able throughout the rest of the session time.
For these kiddos we will work fast and go on their journey with them. We are used to noise and chaos and toys everywhere, so don’t stress.
We will power through the sibling and family shots and bring them into images when their energy levels allow. We use a bit of well-timed bribery, some toy boxes, but having a few ‘we might get X on the way home’ type promises up your sleeve can definitely help.
If you happen to have the luxury of a grand-parent who is available to take the energetic human home after we have got their shots in the bag, that’s awesome too and allows you a bit of time to relax with babe.
Keep it simple! For little boys a pair or chinos and a plain t-shirt is perfect, bare feet (for studio sessions) and done!
Beware of overalls, they look super cute but often ride up in front of faces or fall off shoulders when moving/sitting.
For girls, a pair of plain pants and a shirt or a simple dress is perfection … watch the knickers though, short skirts/dresses often ride up when sitting, so keep the length practical for fast moving small people and/or a pair of bloomers is perfect too.
Ruffles on sleeves can cause more problems than they are worth, as cute as they are, they often get in front of kiddo’s face unless they are directly looking at camera, and this is pretty rare!
DAD
Hi Dad!
Allow us to generalise for a second:
We are going to guess that you’ve been told this photography thing is happening, but other than that, you probably don’t know much …. right? I promise, you’ll score some epic bonus points if you follow mum’s lead and get excited … it’s probably one of the first non-medical things you do as a brand new family, and it’s a really lovely experience.
We keep it super relaxed and easy going so, please don’t worry. Your main job is to remain present, tell mum she looks gorgeous, and be on toddler-wrangling duty if this babe isn’t your first rodeo.
Get a hair cut a week or so before the shoot.
Clean hands and neat nails, pretty please.
Stay away from power tools for a day or so before, if you can – you’d be amazed how many dad’s nearly loose a finger in the lead up to a photo session! (you’ve been warned!)
Unless it’s super sentimental and timeless, leave it off for the shoot. Please no smart watches, they turn themselves ‘on’ right at the wrong time and texts coming up on your watch and then appearing in your photos isn’t ideal.
A pair of jeans and a light coloured shirt, chinos and a t-shirt – anything plain and simple in the tones that the other family members are wearing is perfect.
We have a few simple plain t-shirts and linen shirts at the studio if needed.
Please no big logos or graphics. Pretty please.
The studio will be warm no matter the outside temp, so jumpers/jackets etc aren’t necessary.
MUM
So let’s be real here.
You’re not going to have a heap of time to get ready in the morning of your session, even if your session isn’t until midday! Try to have everything ready the day before.
You’re welcome to change into your clothes when you get to the studio, but sometimes it’s easier to arrive ready to start, that way you can relax with a coffee or tea when you arrive and take a deep breath while we start with babe and older siblings.
The choice to have your make up done professionally is completely up to you.
Often mums who are comfortable with a make up artist choose to have it done, if not, just a light makeup for the day is perfect.
Think ‘daytime summer wedding’ vibes.
If you’re after a recommendation, we have used the lovely Tallorah (or her team) over at Mobile Make Overs Australia. Expect to budget around $200 for hair and makeup depending on hair length.
Again, professionally or at home, it’s completely up to you. If you have long hair, wear it down! We totally know that it probably spends it’s life in a mum-bun, but wear it down if you feel comfortable.
If you have hair dye regrowth, make time to visit the salon before your session (we suggest before baby is born as there isn’t much time between birth and photoshoot) as it’s not possible to fix regrowth in photoshop. Sorry.
If you’re after a recommendation, we have used the lovely Tallorah (or her team) over at Mobile Make Overs Australia. Expect to budget around $200 for hair and makeup depending on hair length.
Only if you know how to do it well and are used to it. Be aware that you might be a completely different colour to the rest of your family, especially if you go dark and it’s the middle of winter.
We can’t rectify this in photoshop. Sorry.
Yes your hands will be in the photos.
Getting your nails done can make you feel a million bucks, which is a pretty good return on investment if you ask me.
If you’re not a ‘get them done’ type, then just make sure they are clean and neat and take off any crusty polish.
We can’t fix grown out acrylic nails or chipped polish in photoshop. Sorry.
When planning the families wardrobe we want you to start with YOU! honestly!
Choose something you absolutely love and use this to base everyone else’s clothing pieces from.
For studio sessions, light colours work beautifully and you are more than welcome to utilise the studio wardrobe.
If your clothing has pattern, use the colours in the pattern to base the tones and colours of the other family members. Neutral, natural colours work best. If you want to select items from the studio wardrobe, light/white underwear is necessary as black/coloured underwear will show through.
FUR BABY
We know how much fur babies are part of the family. Often being the first ‘baby’ a couple welcomes into their world, we totally know how important they are to involve in this new part of life.
Dogs are more than welcome in the studio as long as they:
- Are toilet trained,
- Are well behaved (relatively, we know they’ll be excited when they first arrive, but should settle down)
- Pose no threat to the baby (or anyone for that matter!)
So far we have found that the families who are brave enough to venture out with small kiddos AND a dog, know their dog will be easy enough to cope with and it has been a great experience. YES, bringing the dog adds another level of choas to the whole exercise, but they also bring comic relief, welcome distraction from being photographed, and someone who is always happy, no matter what.
