The wallpaper backdrop was hanging perfectly; the wooden floor drop smoothed out; fluffy white towels folded neatly and stacked in a soft pile; and baby Quinn was tucked up on his tummy, dummy in his mouth and his blankie wrapped around him, drifting off to sleep. We had been working towards this for about 15 minutes, Quinn’s mum helping to settle him while I got his tiny bottom and toes and fingers placed exactly how I wanted. A sneak peek under his blanket showed that he had finally settled into the perfect pose. We removed his blanket. I stepped back with my camera, and his mum sat just off to the side, ready to remove his dummy at the right moment and to spot him if he moved.

And then…. Quinn startled, as tiny babies do. His legs shot out behind him, his arms flailed, and he jerked to wide awake. We were right back to square one, and Quinn decided that it was time to snuggle in with mum for a feed instead of getting this shot.

Welcome to the world of newborn studio photography!

Newborn babies love to be tucked up in those gorgeous womb-like positions, and capturing the delicate perfection of this is one of my favourite things to do. But babies definitely reign in these sessions, and the one reliable thing is that you can’t rely on anything!

I was so excited about this newborn studio photo shoot with the adorable little Quinn. His parents are some of our good friends, and I was thrilled to get to meet their little boy. And what a sweetheart he is!

It is amazing how quickly babies can make their preferences clear and show their little personalities. Quinn had shown in his first few days at home that he was happiest settling on his tummy, so we tried to tailor the session to let him have lots of tummy time. After a good feed, he snuggled up on my beanbag for some beautiful tucked up photos with his proud big sister Imani.

Quinn decided he had done with sleeping after these photos, and he stayed awake for most of our session. Awake babies are definitely do much more wriggling and squirming, but it meant we could get some photos of those stunning big blue eyes.

I have a stash of toys for older siblings to play with during shoots. Imani was much more interested in my beanbag and backdrops though! We made the most of this while Quinn was having a feed, and got some adorable photos of her. My puppy dog lens buddy (sewn by my talented sister from Bella Boop Designs) got a good workout. Imani was tickled by his ‘barking’, and then seeing the response from her mum and me, started really hamming it up for the camera. Just look at all those cheeky faces!

Before we wrapped up the session we decided to try one more pose, with a different basket and different wrap. I’m so glad we did! Quinn finally settled in and went to sleep again, and we got some beautiful shots of him snuggled in the sheepskin and basket.

Hope you enjoy these photos of these two gorgeous children.