Tag: victoria bc baby pictures | Newborn and Maternity Photography Victoria BC

September 28, 2023

Choosing Your Colors – Newborn Photography Victoria BC

When planning our newborn sessions, parents get to choose a few colors they would like to have included in their sessions. Sometimes they know the colors ahead and other times they like to wait to meet the baby and then decide. This way all the photos flow together if hung in a gallery wall and also tend to be the colors they have chosen for a nursery or for their homes in general. Using different textures, headbands, hats, props and wraps, those colors can all flow together and a cohesive gallery can be achieved!!

For this baby girl’s photo session, lavender, cream, beige and white colors were chosen. Here was how I used those colors. With Mom and Dad wanting to use lots of neutrals we were able to create a colorful set of images as well as a monochromatic set. Which one is your favorite?

I would love to hear which colors you would choose for your newborn session! If you are interested in booking baby pictures in Victoria, BC with Amanda, please email amandahaddow@gmail.com to find out more details.

All the best, Amanda

Newborn Photography Victoria 1-Blog Template

Newborn Photography Victoria 2-Blog Template

Jannine MacKinnon

September 25, 2018

Victoria Baby Girl Newborn Photo Session

I just photographed this adorable baby girl’s 4 month milestone photo session and realised that I hadn’t blogged her newborn session!! It was definitely time to look back at her session and pull out some favourites to share with you 🙂

Mom and Dad wanted a mix of pastels; pinks, purples and some green too. I find most clients really let me have creative freedom to use the props and blankets that I like and mix in sweet little newborn hair accessories or bonnets when I like.

I feel so fortunate to have families entrust me with capturing baby’s first year. So far we have done maternity pictures, newborn baby photos, her 4 month session and still baby’s 9 month and one year celebration photo sessions are to come!! I love to use at least one or two of the same elements in each of the sessions so we can compare baby’s growth.

We are also now incorporating at least one digital backdrop into each gallery, making sure to remember this when photographing baby! That way I am able to create the image after the session in post production. You can see the beautiful butterfly backdrop that I was able to use in this session from my design partnership with the Heidi Hope Design Partners. I just love how perfectly this layout flowed with their chosen colour palette.

If you are thinking of capturing baby’s first year or any of his/her newborn moments, please don’t hesitate to call me at 250-885-6860, I would love to chat with you!!

Amanda

February 27, 2018

Newborns to 4 Months Old!

So by now all of you know how much I adore the newborn stage and capturing those curly, sleepy babies in our newborn sessions… I really do!! But what I love about our baby planner families is that I get to see your sweet babies grow and capture the most adorable milestones as they develop.

These two little sweeties just came back for their 4 month baby session and while the 3-4month sessions are not often (or ever;) sleepy, they capture the amazing little personalities that are emerging through their adorable smiles, expressions and squishy little “baby-ness”. It honestly is one of the cutest stages to capture and slightly easier than the next as they are not yet moving!! Also I find babies of this age do not often make strange so their cute smiles often emerge after I make a silly face or funny sound. It really is so adorable!!

We do have a limit as to how long these little ones are happy to interact with me and my camera so I tend to book 30-40 minutes only and watch for little signs that they are tired and ready for a snack and to be finished in the studio. Your little one always lets us know when time’s up!

Have a look to see how these precious baby boys have grow from their newborn session to their first milestone session at 4 months of age!! We can’t wait to have them back again between 8&9 months to see how much they’ve grown and changed again!

If you are interested in planning your year of baby’s photos, the First Year Baby Planner Collection includes your maternity session, newborn session, two milestone sessions (I recommend 4 months and 9 months) as well as a One Year Celebration session with the whole family back again in the studio. I can’t wait to capture these incredible stages for you!!

To book a session with Amanda, please call 250-885-6860 or email her at amandahaddow@gmail.com. Can’t wait to meet you and your growing family!

Amanda

February 1, 2018

How to Prepare for your Newborn Photo Session

If you’re reading this you may be expecting your little one very soon or are already booked to join me in the studio for a Newborn Photo Session! I always like to make sure that my clients know what to expect before their session, from the location of my studio to tips for your baby in the morning to help us capture incredible photographs. So, with that, I thought I’d put together a few notes & tips that are helpful before you arrive.

We ask that the morning of the session mom and dad bathe baby and have a little playtime, try to keep babe awake a couple of hours in the morning, then dress into clothing that will be easy to remove prior to our session (snaps or buttons on the front works well). It’s best to give baby a full feed at home so there is time for their tummy to settle. Hopefully in the car ride over he/she will fall asleep!

Firstly, myself and my assistant Nicole, want you to have the opportunity to sit back and relax for the 2-3 hours you are here. Whether it’s sitting down with a hot cup of tea, reading a magazine, catching up on social media browsing or even just shutting your eyes for a few moments, you deserve a rest!!

When you arrive, we have the foundations of your session all set up – as well as a pre-curated set of accessories, blankets, props, wraps and more based on the colour palette you’ve chosen before your session. We’ll take a few moments at the beginning to walk you through what we’ve chosen, and make any minor adjustments needed throughout the session. You are more than welcome to bring your own soothers & change of clothes for baby at the end of the session if that is something you would like.

If baby did not fall asleep on the car ride over and is a little fussy in the beginning that is just fine! We understand that these first few weeks routines are not always yet established and baby has just arrived in a new environment. We have lots of little comforts to help your little one get settled in as quickly as possible. We make sure that the room is comfortably warm and that our white noise machine is on, it works like a dream!

Expect that baby will need to have a feed about half way through the session. This gives you a little cuddle time as we transition from our floor prop set-ups to our pose flow on the beanbag.

The most important thing for you to know is that your baby’s safety is our number one priority during your session. In every pose, we make an extra effort make sure your precious little bundle is secure, or has a set of extra hands and watchful eye on them at all times.

We’re all human & let’s be honest – there may be a bit of poo and pee along the way! We have plenty of cloths & wipes and extra diapers if need be. If you’re having family or parent photos at the end of the session, always bring an extra change of clothes just in case things get messy!

If you have any questions before or during the session – we are more than happy to answer and help make this a wonderfully memorable experience!

Hopefully, these notes will help you in preparation for your session. If you would like to book a newborn photo session, please don’t hesitate to call Amanda (250-885-6860) or send an email to amandahaddow@gmail.com.

Follow the circle to visit Bumps Baby Beyond & see how they prepare for baby photos and newborn photography sessions in Leicestershire, East Midlands.

Amanda

January 16, 2018

Booking Your Newborn Baby Photography in Victoria BC

One of my favourite steps as a baby photographer is to show parents their images in the viewing session. Viewing sessions take place within 2 weeks of their baby session and I am always surprised to see how baby has already grown and changed so much in that short little window of time! I love seeing families again and we enjoy looking through each of the edited images and choosing the photos they love the most!

As a baby photographer in Victoria, photographing these sweet little ones in their first couple of weeks is not just a job but a joy!! The ideal age to capture this precious milestone is within the first 2 weeks of birth (this sweet baby boy was just under 2 weeks of age). This is when they comfortably go into sweet curly positions and are happy to sleep for a couple of hours at a time. Those teeny toes and tiny fingers and their dreamy little expressions are simply the best!

Mom & Dad receive a prep package before the newborn session with a few helpful hints to help our time go smoothly. I always encourage bathing baby the morning of the session, having some play time and then giving him/her a full feed before they head off in the car to my Bear Mountain studio. That way when they arrive, baby is usually sleeping and we can transfer babe from the car seat right into our first photography set up. We make sure that baby leads us is in the most comfortable positions to use. Some babes love being wrapped, some not so much. Some enjoy being on their backs, others are comfortable on their sides or tummies. Each baby is so different and unique!

For further information on how to book your newborn baby photos session, please email amandahaddow@gmail.com 🙂

Amanda

January 11, 2018

How Newborn Photography Came To Me

About 8 and a half years ago we had an opportunity to move to the Middle East for my husband’s work. I had traveled a fair amount as a child (my parents and extended family are British) and the idea of a move for a “couple of years” sounded really exciting! A couple months later we were on a plane with our (then) 4 & 6 year old on our way to an incredible adventure. At the end of our first year away, we welcomed our 3rd baby! I loved the time I had with my kiddos, to attend music groups, meet with other moms, adjust to life away from home and help my two older children settle into their new routines.

Photography had only been a hobby. I had always pursued the Sciences. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, I’d never considered a career in the Arts. I remember my Dad being interested in taking photos when we were little so I first took photos on a Pentax camera he had given me, using film (never really knowing what I was doing but getting “lucky” with a cute photo now and then). We later purchased a point and shoot camera as digital cameras were introduced and a few years after that took the leap to a digital SLR (the Canon Rebel). Fast forward a couple of years and I, like many moms loved taking photos of my own children, documenting their milestones and everyday moments. I also got really into the hobby of scrapbooking and then further into designing scrapbook papers (insert my love of Photoshop) using snapshots I’d taken over the years.

At this point, I had taken a few family photos for a couple of friends who kept encouraging me to take more. That Fall, the principal at my children’s nursery school asked me to take school photos of each of the children and without a whole lot of thought (jump in headfirst?!), I said “yes”!! With no formal training and really little to NO idea how to use my manual settings, I purchased a backdrop stand, draped a white sheet for a backdrop and got to work! Somehow, that photoshoot was successful and after another parent asked me to photograph a nursery school in Abu Dhabi word started getting out that I could take pictures…somehow the ball started rolling! I continued to take as many photos as I could, branching into desert shoots for families and not only fell in love with photography but grew to love the idea that this could one day be my career.

Within that first year, I was extremely fortunate to meet an incredible group of photographers, women who had honed their art and took pride in running their photography businesses. One of those photographers was the amazing Jillian Greenhill Photography, who was (and is) an incredible Newborn Photographer in Abu Dhabi. After months of asking (and asking and asking ;), she agreed to mentor me in newborn portraiture!! Let’s just say that after an 8 hour day of shooting 4 newborns, I was hooked. I mean I was exhausted, sweaty, head jam packed with camera settings, lighting techniques, poses etc but excited beyond belief with all the information I had been taught. I REALLY wanted to pursue this!!!

It has taken hours upon hours to learn and develop my photography. Both editing skill & style and then to develop a business I am proud of. Photography is ever changing, the people we meet, the family stories we get to share, the most incredible moments we can join in celebrating. The tools we use, the techniques we hone. I am so happy this hobby has developed into a passion and have never been more excited to “go to work”!!

– A m a n d a

Amanda