Charlotte Newborn Photographer / Beautiful Smiley Newborn

I have lots of people ask me to describe the differences between “lifestyle” and traditional newborn photography. 

Traditional newborn photography has been around for decades and is marked by the cute curled up poses on sweetly styled backdrops.  I would guess that most of you reading this have traditional photos of your wee little selves.  There is truly an art to the modern take on traditional newborn photography.  Much time is taken in carefully coordinating the blankets and wraps, patiently posing baby in just the right way to show off her little features and editing the photos to precisely the perfect skin tones.    

Lifestyle newborn photography has really taken off in the last few years.  Rather than using a set or props, it takes advantage of the client’s environment.  For newborn photography, this environment is often the baby’s nursery.    I like to place my subjects into positions to take advantage of the natural light (I would describe this as “loosely posed”) and then step back and capture their interactions from different angles and vantage points paying attention to the details that document those precious first days in their life as a new family. 

Most newborn photographers do either traditional or lifestyle sessions.  For me, I truly love both and so I do a combination on every session (unless specifically requested to do one or the other). 

The lifestyle part of this session was so much fun because the family dog, a beautiful Wheaten terrier named “Winnie” was very much the big sister and wanted to be included in all of the family fun.  She was very photogenic and positioned herself front and center in most of the shots.  Oh and mommy, daddy and baby “C” weren’t so bad either.  ;)  I loved the soft neutral colors in baby “C”’s nursery and the way the family was so comfortable and natural in front of the camera.  I had such a hard time narrowing down my favorites.

Baby “C” was a doll to work with during the traditional shots.  She was the perfect sleepy baby and let me pose her with ease.  She rarely fussed and when she did, her “big sister” Winnie would give me a stern warning with a growl.  Baby “C” is a pretty little thing, especially when she smiled which she did often. 

Here are my favorites from this beautiful Mt. Holly family’s session.

Carrie Howland Photography is a newborn and children’s photographer located in Charlotte, NC.   Click on the links to see more of my newborn and children’s photography.  Contact me to set up your session today.