5 Questions to ask before you book your Newborn Photographer!
Safety is paramount in newborn photography, and yet it’s not always something that occurs to people to check before they book. Partly this is because unless you’ve had a newborn session done before, you may not think about how ‘hands on’ the photographer is going to be with your 2 week old baby. But the reality is, anyone can go out and take photos of your baby, and you need to make sure that you are booking someone who has experience.
Here are 6 questions you should ask before booking a posed newborn photographer.
1. What training and/or qualifications do you have?
Anyone posing newborns SHOULD have at least done a hands on workshop so that they have seen other, more experienced newborn photographers handle babies - allowing them to see the ‘behind the scenes’ versions of the images you see everywhere (more on that later).
There are many group workshops on newborn posing available, online courses, and first AID courses.
Remember this aspect is different competition qualifications such as the AIPP, which relates to competition images, not safe practice.
There is no standard, formal qualification for newborn photography but any serious photographer is going to have invested in education and will be able to tell you what they have studied.
I am certified with the Academy of Newborn Photography and have completed my Infant First AID/CPR certificate.
2. What health and safety practices does your studio have?
ALL wraps/blankets that touch a newborn should be washed in between sessions. I don’t generally do back to back sessions for this reason, so that I can clean up and wash between babies.
It doesn’t matter if they haven’t been pooped/peed on, many viruses are contagious before they present symptoms, so it would be easy to have a sick baby in and not even know.
Make sure your photographer has standards and protocols in place.
3. Are you immunised?
No need to really explain this one - and I very much hope that all newborn photographers have been immunised, but it doesn’t hurt to ask and make sure.
4. How do you pose the ‘tricky’ poses such as ‘froggy’ ?
Most newborn photographers refer to certain poses by a nickname.
Search ‘froggy newborn’ in google and you will know exactly what I mean!
This is just an example of a pose that needs to be done safely and correctly, and the baby should never ever be left in the pose without being held. Your photographer should explain that this is a ‘composite’ (two photos merged together) and that a spotter (even if that’s you) is always touching baby.
Other poses you may want that need a little bit of ‘behind the scenes’ magic are baby in dad’s hands, which are not done with dad holding the baby up is done safely laying down, baby in a hammock (also done laying down) and potato sack (baby should never be wrapped in too many wraps and should never be supporting their own body weight).
By asking your photographer ‘how do you pose XYZ pose” you will be able to find out if they understand about composite images and are experienced enough to know this.
They may (such as myself) tell you they don’t DO certain poses, and that’s fine too.
5. Do you have business insurance and are you a registered business?
A simple, but important one. Make sure the photographer is insured!
While some new photographers may build their portfolio before being a registered business, they should still have insurance before touching a newborn. Newborn photography is generally an expensive business to run (cameras cost around 4k, lenses 2k, props, blankets, subscriptions, tax etc) and so your photographer needs to be insured and registered.
I hope that helps you when choosing a newborn photographer. It is an amazing job and experience but like anyone dealing with little babies, safety has to be an important aspect.