Family Sessions- Durham, NC Family Photographer

I love my newborn work and honestly have never felt like family sessions were my strong suit. After these last few sessions at my new location, I think I will only shoot there from now on and I'm pretty sure I will be booking more full family sessions at sunset next fall than I did this year. With an entire hour to work with, I get to play with candid shots, the sun, the giggles and even the meltdowns. I wanted to share two of my latest sessions. I think I am finally finding my style in family sessions that I have been lacking over the years.

Older Siblings | Durham, NC | Newborn hotographer

This older sister sibling session rocked my world last week. It was so fun having a ten year old in the studio. I absolutely love the shots we got of sweet Ollie with his family. I would love to do more of these types of images with families in the future. I think they are somewhat of a lifestyle instead of too posed. At least, that is my goal. Enjoy!

Durham, NC | First Year Photographer | Mini Sessions

L A U R E N  S O I G N E T  P H O T O G R A P H Y 

I have thought and thought about the best way possible to offer my sessions and be affordable to as many as possible. Although my focus these days is the first year of life, I often have clients ask for mini sessions when I am not offering a set such as fall or spring minis.  The best I could come up with for now is offering mini sessions outside of just the grouped mini sessions I typically offer. They have gone up slightly in price but also in the number of final images you will receive. I am no longer capping my mini sessions at 5 images and charging extra for more. My clients who book mini sessions will now receive all of the edited images from their 20 minute session. This will be at least 10 images but sometimes more if the session goes well.

I will now offer these mini sessions in the studio, at my lake location as well as the wooded location. Please understand that the spaces are limited and book up quickly. These sessions will only be twenty minutes so I am not including travel sessions outside of the above mentioned, cake smashes, extended family, outfit changes or newborns. I do have packages for all of those as well, so please see the package and prices page on the tab at the top. Weekday evenings are best for the outdoor location and mornings/early afternoon are typically best for the studio.

I am offering these mini sessions independently now, not only to be able to be more affordable but to be able to spend more time at home with my family. As you all know, babies are only young once. I am also starting our first year of official home school with RQ. I can’t believe’ it is time for Kindergarten! I want to send out a huge thank you to all of you who are still with me after the many years of learning and growing in this art of mine.

Nursing Photos | Durham, NC First Year Photographer

I consider myself a "first year photographer." I am working hard to utilize my studio and ability to work from home while my babies are still young. I am nursing and my boy hates a bottle so it makes life a little easier to be right here at home. That being said, my focus for the next year is really on maternity, newborn and the first year. All right here in the studio! Today I offered a super special in honor of National Breastfeeding Month and had 7 moms come into the studio and have photos done while nursing. I absolutely love love love how these turned out. I got some incredible emails back from moms saying how happy they were to have these. I want to offer these mini sessions in the studio to any nursing moms. It is not as easy to do at your newborn session as many moms know it takes a little while for you and the little one to get the swing of things. I can't wait to do more of these in the studio!

Maternity Photos | Durham, NC Maternity Photographer

I have had these visions in my head for a really long time. I finally bit the bullet and bought some dresses that I hoped would fit a pregnant momma. I did a model call and snagged this bombshell to come in and let me style her. OH MY WOW. Is she gorgeous or what? I can't wait to meet this little man in October! I am also super excited to offer these sessions (using my gowns or your own) in the studio for expecting moms. You can book a full session or if you have booked a newborn session with me, I am offering a maternity mini. Email me for more information!

Style | Durham, NC Newborn and Milestone Photographer

For a while now I have said I wanted my style to be more neutral when it came to colors  and while still posed, I wanted more of a lifestyle feel. In the last several sessions I am finally seeing my work go in the direction I have envisioned for a while now.  I told Amanda I think it stemmed from not only my desire to be better and be me but from having so many boys lately and not relying on props to make my galleries have more dynamic. Rather, relying on light, angles and the baby.

I still always ask parents if there are any colors they want to incorporate, but at this point I feel like I am being hired for my art and my art is my style. I will still use your headbands or outfits for a few shots, but overall I want to give you my work. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.

{safety first} durham, NC newborn photographer

I am pretty certain all of my clients know how important safety is to me. However, a grandma came along this week and the look on her face when Amanda and I started posing baby in this pose was pure fear. She then asked if I was planning to get the baby to stay like this on his own. The answer... ABSOLUTELY NOT! I cannot stress this enough. I have posted this several times but I want to be sure everyone is clear once again since the fear was sparked in my home studio this week.

If you have a photographer who says that is OK, please do not let them. I am begging you. I have invested in an assistant for this very reason. Yes, technically, they could be in the position to somewhat "hold themselves up" but that is still NOT OK! Babies jerk and jolt and could easily and in a split second come out of a pose. 

This is a composite. Two or more photos put together into one. We never ever take our hands off of the baby and if baby is uncomfortable in ANY pose, I stop immediately. 

Some babies do not like to be on their stomach and that gallery ends up not having belly poses. Some babies do not like being in props and they end up not having props. Some babies are awake in every shot... Every one of my newborn sessions is very different. I promise sweet images of your newborn but I do not like to make any promises ahead of time for certain poses. I will always attempt a pose if mom or dad has a favorite but I have never and never will force a baby to do a pose they are not comfortable in. Most babies will fall asleep if my prep guide is followed and we can get a lot of poses, but again... this is never promised. My sweet son is one of the babies who I have literally 3 "poses" of and the rest are more lifestyle because he HATED me trying to pose him. Sadly, I wanted this shot so bad of him and tried it many days in a row without any luck. haha.

If for some reason I do not have an assistant at a shoot, the clients will not get this pose unless they want to assist me in it and in that case I talk them through each and every step before we even start. 

Please know I always have your babies safety in mind FIRST. I have taken numerous online classes and workshops to educate myself on these poses and safety. This is not something someone should just "try" at home. Please please please do not do that.

Below are the original photos used to create the above image. What these images do not show are the soothing and setups before hand. So again, please don't try this at home.

I'm back!!

Hey guys! Thank you all for the wonderful support as I ease back into shooting as a mom of two. The transition has been going so well I am planning to keep it slow for now. I do have some openings so please do not hesitate to ask and if I don't have anything that fits your needs I can certainly recommend someone for you.

Meet Remi!

He is three months old now.

I absolutely LOVE being a mommy of two. It is far better than I ever imagined!!

Remi at 5 days old.

Riley and Remi (one week old)

My babies (Riley 5.5) Remi (3 months)

Maternity Leave Update

Hey there!! I am 37 weeks pregnant  with Remi Michael and {almost} officially on maternity leave. I had one last mini session today and two more session that had to be rescheduled that I will hopefully get to in the next week. If not, they will have to be pushed back a little bit after our little man makes his appearance. I am already itching to get back into the newborn sessions which thankfully I will have my own around to practice with while I am out! Riley is so excited to be a big sister. She has even made a countdown to my due date out of a paper chain. I have been feeling pretty good. I am very tired by the afternoon and pretty sore these days. I think my body is getting ready! I have had a good amount of Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing regular yet.

I am hoping to get back shooting as soon as possible once life settles down as a family of four and nursing gets into a good groove. I have one newborn scheduled for mid April but I am not opening anymore due dates until May at this time. If you have a May or June due date, please feel free to email me and we can get you on my calendar. I will also open up milestone sessions for mid May. Depending on how I am feeling- I may even offer some milestone mini sessions sooner to get myself back into the studio! I have not decided yet when I will be doing travel mini sessions but I am hoping my first set will be Mommy and Me in May around Mother's Day and I will post those to facebook as soon as I am settled and have a better idea of my schedule. I am thinking of doing them in the woods this year since they were in more of a field setting last year. They were by far some of my favorite ever mini sessions. I love the candid shots of mom with her babies!

If you have a session in mind, please do not hesitate to ask. The worst I can do is say no. I'm queen of last minute "Ok, let's do it!" sessions if they work out for you and for me! (I did one this morning with a request at 9am and shooting at 10am!) My sessions are all listed on the prices and packaging tab along with a link to the contract for you to read over if you have any questions. There has been one small change to mini sessions for 2017 but other than that I think everything else is pretty much the same.

Thank you all for all of your support in this adventure of mine. I love capturing all of your memories for you and I can't wait to share some personal images over the next couple of months. 

Cheers!!

Lauren