by STEPHANIE JULIAN
When I was pregnant I ‘won’ a free baby photo session. We’d gone along to a pregnancy and baby expo, where – just quietly – if you think the idea of being pregnant in a big hot room surrounded by a million other pregnant women or new mums and screaming babies with no air flow, no decent place to sit down and prams being driven into the back of your heels for a couple of hours sounds awesome, you’ll be in heaven. Little did I know that every person who filled in a form ‘won’ a free baby portrait.
We took our delicious little bundle along to the photographer’s studio when she was about four weeks old, so we were still well entrenched in the ‘what the hell are we doing’ phase. I’d dressed her up in a crazy combination of what I thought, in my sleep deprived mind, was kind of ‘street adorable.’ There was pink, there was velour, but there were some emo striped tights and comedy shoes to top it off. I also took along a ridiculous hat I’d bought online from China that looked a bit like I’d scalped a tie-dyed Swedish monkey and embroidered a flower on it.
“Isn’t she just ADORABLE?!” burbled the photographer as my daughter scrunched her face into a sunburnt tomato tribute and let forth with her exorcist, head-spinny best wail.
“SO cute!” she said, less convincingly.
I then, I’m ashamed to admit, put my new little baby through the torture of flashing lights, purple satin dropsheets and, shame of all shames, a gold satin nappy cover while the photographer did a go-go gadget arm with a rattly toy in one hand and a massive camera in the other. I know that photoshop can work wonders but I had no faith that these pictures were going to be anything anyone would willingingly look at.
Top Comments
I got photos taken of my daughter when she was 2 weeks old and they are brilliant. I hadn't thought of doing it, but then I friend of mine basically told me I had to or I would regret it forever, and I'm so glad she did. I had a great photographer. She came to our house to do them, and it took half a day because Miss A wouldn't cooperate, but she was fine with it. She got pooed on and weed on, as did her backdrops. She was fine with me stopping to feed her whenever she needed. Generally it was just a lovely experience, and we got some lovely photos. They are plain and simple. Just my daughter in the nude or wrapped in a scarf. They show the beauty of a newborn baby, and don't try to flash it up with crazy props. I'm so glad I had them done, pity you didn't get the same experience. Although I paid a fair bit for mine, and I guess you get what you pay for.
There are a few very fantastic newborn photographers out there that don't make your child look like a fairy. NEVER get sucked into the free photo business...YUCK, so tacky!