At home newborn portrait photography

Introducing a very long awaited little baby and her gorgeous mama. You might recognise this lovely lady from a previous blog post featuring her three Ridgebacks (find that here) who, of course, made an appearance in baby’s newborn shoot too.

I did, however, spend most of the shoot focussing on newborn portraits, rather than the dogs. That’s not to say that there weren’t dogs present at all times though….


Big brother Paddy kept a close eye on the proceedings.

Despite the fact that this newborn session took place in the middle of a Johannesburg summer, it was a cold rainy day, so in order to keep the star of the show happy (a warm baby is generally a happy baby), we had a large patio heater in the room.

The baby to heater ratio had to be just right to keep her warm and toasty without grilling her (a careful balance). Paddy also helped us heat the room and keep the baby subdued with his natural gas emissions. Thankfully the other dogs weren’t too phased about being in the room with us, otherwise I could very well still be there passed out on the floor ?.

Details are such important parts of a newborn photoshoot. Brand new hands and feet don’t stay small and delicate for long and it’s always amazing to marvel at how quickly babies grow. Tiny tot here was all of 2.5kgs when I shot these photographs, two weeks later she’d gained a kilogram and looked very different.


I often wonder what babies think about when they look into the distance like this. Thanks to the heater, Paddy and a few milk breaks we had a very content little lady throughout the shoot. This position was especially relaxation inducing.

As was this one. This little face is so precious.

I shot this newborn session when baby was 12 days old. In my experience 10 to 14 days is the best time frame to have newborn portraits taken and I prefer to work at client’s homes where everything is on hand. At home is also the best option to include four legged family members in a shoot too.

For more information about booking your own newborn photography session, please get in touch with me here.