Heather Neal Photography

I did an outdoor session with this lovely family when they were just a family of 4. I haven’t been nervous before a session for a long time, but I gotta admit. I had a few butterflies before this newborn session. I’m still getting used to shooting in a studio and learning every day. Also, since I haven’t had a studio for the last few years, I haven’t done a lot of newborn sessions. Little Elias couldn’t have been a better model though. He was perfectly sleepy, sweet and even gave me a few little newborn smiles. He got me right back into the swing of things and now I can’t wait for more little faces to come into the studio.

Fun Fact. I have worked with this amazing little family for many years and many different kinds of sessions. It’s been a while since I heard the story so I hope I get it correctly but I’m pretty sure they both worked at Disney Land many years ago (and maybe that’s where they met?). We have incorporated a little something “Disney” into most of their sessions from a custom “Up” mailbox and Mickey and Minnie balloons at their engagement session, Winnie the Poo for their son’s newborn session and now The Little Mermaid for their sweet little Mia’s newborn session. Another fun fact…the dress Mia is wearing in some of these photos once belonged to her mama.

I love this newborn session for so many reasons. First of all, I love this family. Kynlee’s cousin, Beau was just featured on my blog a few weeks ago! Second…it made me realize that everything doesn’t have to be black or white (although a lot of my favorite images from this session are black AND white…HA!). I stopped offering newborn sessions a while ago. I had been doing the “deep sleep, props and poses” type newborn sessions and just wasn’t feeling that it was my style of photography. However, I had several clients that had been loyal customers for years and I didn’t want to miss out on being a part of this milestone with them. So when Kynlee’s mommy asked about newborn photos, I offered a “lifestyle session” and I just love the way they turned out so much that I think I will start offering them regularly. I love capturing that time when couples are home with their new little ones during those first few weeks and all of the things that become routine with a newborn but don’t last long. This little girl is definitely very loved already and I can’t wait to watch her grow. We have some more BIG sessions planned so luckily I will be seeing her soon. 😉

I was so happy I finally got to meet little Beau at 1 month old. He was just the sweetest little guy and I loved spending time with him during his “not-so-newborn” session. I’m considering moving more into “lifestyle” newborn photography and we did a little bit of that with his session. It’s so nice for new moms and dads to not have to leave the comfort of home for their session. Plus it allowed us to include Beau’s big (doggy) sister and the beautiful crib that his daddy MADE!