{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.