Walking the Center for Urban Horticulture Trails

The Center for Urban Horticulture is one of my favorite spots for sessions!

It is beautiful and has so many different options. Manicured gardens with different plants in bloom throughout the year, a boardwalk, an apple tree grove and beautiful trails.

This session, we spent mostly on the trials so the little ones could run around!

This session was so much fun (and boy was I tired after!) A maternity session + twin 2 year olds!

We played a lot of games, ran around a lot and just enjoyed this beautiful summer morning!

Newborn Sessions in NE Seattle Studio

I loved this themed newborn session at my Studio in NE Seattle. Mom brought these special props because this was a favorite movie for mom and dad. And of course, we also got some of the wrapped posed photos and all the cute little details!

Will my house work for a lifestyle session? Short answer, yes!

When you are looking to book a newborn or indoor family session, you have two options:

1. Book a Studio Session at my Studio in NE Seattle or

2. Book a Lifestyle (or in-home session).

Studio and Lifestyle each have their own styles and benefits. The number one recommendation I give if you are deciding if a studio or lifestyle session is better for your needs is to go off of the style of photos you want: Studio or Lifestyle Session What is Best for Your Family.

Often times people worry their home space might not work for photos. But if the "Lifestyle" more candid type photo is what appeals to you, I am here to tell you I can make nearly any space!

Here are some common Lifestyle Session worries and how I solve them!

1. That your house doesn't have any "good" photo spots.

For lifestyle sessions, I ask to take photos in the room in the house that has the most light ( East or West facing windows depending on the time of day), and then if you'd like, I also suggest photos in the nursery and in your master bedroom.

Sometimes the best light is in your livingroom, other times it is in the hallway or kitchen! I really can work with almost anything. I see the light opportunities everywhere! And I always bring my off-camera lighting to supplement when needed!

Example: Finding light in unexpected spots:

This photo here was taken in the client's kitchen. Can you see the counters and sink? Nope! Just the beautiful light from the back door shinning on a new mamma and her babe

Example: Not much natural light

In this session, the master bedroom was at the back of the house, it was a gloomy day and even the large window didn't provide much light.

So I brought along my lighting! I bounced my flash off the window to make it look like there was much more light coming in.

The first photo, had no flash, the second I bounced the flash off the window to the right to give the illusion of more natural light coming in!

2. That you won't have time to clean before I come over.

See number 1 above; I only need a few small spaces to work with. AND I can frame and work around most messes. I ask that you tidy some of the clutter, but PLEASE don't fully clean your house before I come over. After all, you have a newborn, so if you get the chance to clean or sleep, please SLEEP! I have two young boys at home myself, I can promise you my house is NOT put together!

I frame things in such a way that you can't see the clutter and I pick spots that work best based on light.

Example: Clutter/No Clutter:

The first photo, distracting items in the background and Daniel Tiger Playing in the background (to keep this little one's big bros occupied while we did mom/dad/baby photos)

The second photo, I framed slightly closer to cut out the TV and used my photoshop magic to take out the distracting items. (sorry big bro, your pokemon lego didn't make the cut!)

3. The Nursery isn't ready

Although I love to take photos in the nursery to document the special space, if you don't have the nursery put together, that's fine too!

Example:

This lifestyle photo was taken with baby posed on a blanket on the floor of the master bedroom.

4. Your house is "not decorated" or "insert any other aesthetic reasoning here...."

As mentioned above, I can make almost any space work. You don't have to have everything perfect.

And a bonus, if your walls are bare now, we can fill them with all the beautiful photos we take at your session!

Example: plain walls make great backgrounds!