Newborn Portraits at Home on Chicago's North Shore
Photographed in your own rooms, in the first two weeks, on your baby's schedule rather than mine. They will never look like this again, and it goes faster than anyone warns you.
Winnetka · Wilmette · Kenilworth · Glencoe
Newborn Portraits at Home on Chicago's North Shore
Photographed in your own rooms, in the first two weeks, on your baby’s schedule rather than mine. They will never look like this again, and it goes faster than anyone warns you.
Winnetka · Wilmette · Kenilworth · Glencoe
They change more in the first two weeks than they will in any two weeks that follow. The curled legs, the way the hands stay near the face, the noises. By six weeks it’s gone, and the photographs you take on your phone in the meantime are almost all taken from directly above, in the same yellow light, at two in the morning.
I photograph newborns at home. Not because a studio would be worse, but because you have a nine day old and the last thing you need is to get everyone dressed, into a car, and somewhere else by ten.
We work slowly. If the baby needs feeding we stop and I wait. If it takes three hours it takes three hours. Nothing about this runs to a schedule, which is the only way it works.
When to Book
The first two weeks are the window, and within that, days five through twelve are the best of it. Babies sleep more deeply then and still curl the way they did inside.
After about three weeks they’re more awake and more aware, which makes for different photographs. Not worse, just different, and less of the newborn look most people are picturing.
Book while you’re pregnant. Around thirty weeks is ideal. I hold a window around your due date rather than a fixed date, so whenever the baby actually arrives, we’re ready. Babies do not come when scheduled and the calendar has to allow for it.
If you’re reading this and the baby is already here, get in touch anyway. If we can find a day in the next week, we will.
How a Session Works
I come to you, usually mid morning, when the light in most homes is best and babies tend to be sleepiest after a feed.
I bring lighting with me, so we’re not dependent on whether it’s a gray Tuesday in February. It’s there to make your own rooms work, not to turn them into a studio. Your bedroom, the nursery, the chair by the window where you’ve been sitting at four in the morning. Those rooms are the setting and they should look like themselves.
We start with the baby, because that’s when they’re most likely to be asleep. Then you, then your partner, then everyone together, then siblings if there are siblings. If we lose the baby to a feed halfway through, we stop and pick up after.
Plan on two to three hours. Most of that is waiting, and the waiting is the job.
You do not need to tidy the house. I mean this. Whatever you’re picturing in your head about what your home looks like right now, I have photographed a hundred houses in the first two weeks and yours is fine.
Safety
Newborns are handled carefully or not at all.
I don’t do the poses where a baby is propped in a hanging basket or balanced with their chin on their hands. Those images are composites made from multiple frames with a parent’s hands in every one, and they’re built for the photograph rather than the baby.
What I do instead is photograph babies where babies safely go. In your arms, on the bed, in the crib, against your partner’s chest. A parent is within reach the entire time, and if the baby is unhappy we stop.
I’m vaccinated, I wash my hands on arrival, and if I’m unwell we move the date. If anyone in your house is unwell, tell me and we’ll move it. Nobody should be weighing a photo session against a newborn’s first cold.
You Are In These Photographs
The most common regret I hear, months later, is that there are almost no pictures of the mother.
It’s understandable. You’re the one holding the camera, and at ten days postpartum being photographed is rarely what you want. But your child will want to see you. Not a tidied version, just you, in that first fortnight, holding them.
We’ll do it gently, and you can wear whatever you’re actually wearing. Some of the best frames from these sessions are a mother’s hands, a shoulder, the two of you and nothing else in focus.
Your partner too. Fathers are frequently missing from the entire first year of the archive.
What You End Up With
About two weeks after the session we sit down together and go through the images, and I help you decide which ones are worth keeping and what to do with them. This happens at your home too. Nobody with a newborn should have to be somewhere at a set time.
Then albums and framed pieces arrive finished. Wall artwork I bring to your home and hang myself.
And I keep your images archived permanently. Twenty years from now, when your child wants a copy, it’s still there.
Where We Photograph
Your home, anywhere on the North Shore or in the city.
Winnetka · Wilmette · Kenilworth · Glencoe · Northfield · Highland Park · Northbrook · Glenview · Deerfield · Evanston
If you’d rather not have someone in the house in the first two weeks, that’s a reasonable thing to feel. Tell me and we’ll find another way, whether that’s waiting a few weeks or photographing somewhere else.
How It Works
1. We Talk
Ideally while you’re still expecting. You tell me your due date and I hold a window rather than a date.
2. The Baby Arrives
You text me. We settle on a day in the following week.
3. We Choose Together
Two weeks later, at your kitchen table, we go through the images and decide what’s worth keeping.
4. I Deliver It and Hang It
Albums and framed pieces arrive finished. Wall artwork I bring to your home and put up myself.
Investment
Sessions begin at $699. This covers the time at your home, the editing, and a private appointment where we choose your images.
Most collections fall between $1,500 and $3,000. Your session fee is credited toward any of them.
If you’re booking maternity photographs as well, we can arrange both together, and that’s the better way to do it.
Nothing is decided before you’ve seen the photographs.
In Their Words
Questions People Ask
How old should the baby be?
Five to twelve days is ideal. Up to about three weeks still works well. After that the photographs change character, and that’s worth talking about rather than ruling out.
The baby is already here and I didn’t book anything.
Get in touch today. If there’s a day available this week, it’s yours.
How long does it take?
Two to three hours, most of which is waiting. Nothing is rushed and nothing is on a clock.
Does my house need to be clean?
No. I photograph in one or two rooms and I’ve seen every version of the first two weeks. Wash the bedding and leave the rest.
Do you use props?
No baskets, no hanging setups, no costumes. Your baby, your bed, your arms, your rooms.
What if the baby cries the whole time?
Then we stop, you feed them, and we start again. That’s not a failed session, it’s a normal one.
Will there be pictures of me?
Yes, and I’d push for it gently. This is the thing people most often wish they had and most often skip.
What about our toddler?
We photograph them first, while they’re still interested, and then they can go be a toddler.
Can we do maternity photographs too?
Yes, and most people do. Book the maternity session and I’ll hold the newborn window at the same time.
