re you a parent with a brand new baby?  Congratulations to you!  What a beautiful time in your life amidst this global crisis going on outside of your home.  With all non essential businesses closed, it's impossible to get to see your photographer for those cute little baby photos that we all love and desire.  I've been offering my clients a later session of course, along with instructions over skype or zoom so they could get some photos themselves at home while they're waiting to get to the studio.  
If you have facebook, you can connect through my website, but my fb is:  MillieDee Photography and my Instagram: millie_dee_photo; I've recently posted a short video on each of these platforms that demonstrate how and where to best set up in a home for some baby photos, along with some very basic swaddling.  I did this mostly out of safety concerns.  I wanted to make sure my clients understand that they can safely and confidently get a few newborn photos since those sleep baby poses are mostly done within the  first two weeks of life.  

I basically explain that if possible, find a room with some natural light, a room where the natural light comes in from the side onto a bed is ideal. 

Using a bed is best, I suggest staying off the floor for this.  I use a few layers of blankets, the top blanket or sheet being used as your 'background', which could be anything as long as its soft, comfortable; plain and simple is best.  The underlayers of blankets I roll inward to create a circle or almost a donut and place the baby in the middle of that.  I place the baby on their back in the middle of the circle I've made and swaddle them, fuss with the swaddle so the edges look tucked in, and take a few pictures, take a full body photo, a few close ups, the hands, the lips, that cute little nose, you can take a side shot for a profile.  

I also mention take photos 'of scale'.  Which is when you take something of normal size, like your hand or your partner's hand and place it next to the baby; you can take the baby's hand in your fingers, or place your partner's hands around the baby, or like in the photo above, do a fist bump photo.  

Experiment with a few different swaddles; blankets that perhaps a family member or friend have made are great to incorporate into the photos along with putting a hat or bow on the baby's head for a little variety as well.  

You can take the photos with your cell phone for sure, just keep in mind the zoom; the less zoom the better in regards to pixels and blur; also lighting, clarity and blur/sharpness of your photos; the clearer and sharper your image is, the better it will look as you share it on social media.  In speaking with a professional printing company, they did say there are a lot of variables to printing cell phone photos, but it can be done if the photo has what I'd mentioned, good lighting, clarity sharpness and no or just small amount of zoom.  

Safety is always my number one concern when taking photos, if a baby is not into being posed that day, wait it out, wait a day or two and try again.  Have fun with taking photos, new parents!  You can safely and confidently get some photos of your baby.  Enjoy!  xo  Denise 


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I’ve been out of the corporate workforce for 12 years, since I had my first child; deciding to instead of returning to corporate, open a small photography business.  Having a small business and being a full time mom is a juggle and a struggle - what I have realized about having both a career and a family is this—It’s not so much about work/life balance, it’s more about work/life integration.  If we’re expected to make sure the human race lives on by making and adopting little humans, women, who make up 47% of the workforce really need services that help on a number of levels.  I recently read an article in Fast Company Magazine on one of the Top 20 innovative companies of 2020, Maven Clinic; from the article: “Maven connects workers with medical specialists via video chat or messaging for a fraction of the cost of an in-person visit. It was founded on the idea that access to better care before, during, and after pregnancies benefits employers as much as patients (by requiring fewer sick days and, ultimately, keeping parents in jobs)."  With women making up nearly half of the workforce and slightly outnumbering men in college grads, Let's keep these women empowered; let's realize the strengths these women with families have instead of pointing out flaws, let's raise each other up instead of cutting each other up.  I look forward to reading about more companies like Maven Clinic that understand the modern needs of working women that are raising families; lets see how we can empower these current women leaders to raise our future leaders.