How many images should a gallery include? Which poses do I have to "nail". Keep it "REAL" and think about your purpose - don't sweat it all day long.
I visited Holland for the first time in July, where the incredible business woman and photographer Yvonne van Dalen hosted my final Authentic Newborn Workshop of the summer. From the moment she picked me up at the airport every detail of the workshop, much like every detail of her studio, was perfect. Touring her space I felt a moment's pang of envy at how immaculate and polished her studio was. It really is beautiful and you can see in every aspect the dedication and vision that she has put into it.
After introducing Yvonne to the 3 Stand In Babies that I brought with me and in return being introduced to her delightful children, we set off for dinner & drinks, and the first meeting with two of the workshop participants.
Over dinner we had the chance to get to know each other and talk about where we were in our journey, and the ladies shared some of their hopes and fears.
On to shoot day. Of course, the models that Yvonne arranged were wonderful! Baby Nena was just gorgeous and her mum was lovely. Everyone had a chance to practise the Authentic Flow Posing Workflow, with the Stand In Babies and then see and photograph it in action with Nena. We talked about the value of Authenticity in business and how it impacts your search for your dream clients.
All behind the scenes photo credit to Yvonne van Dalen.
I’m just in awe, utterly amazed and proud! Last week I had the pleasure of training Beth in the art of Authentic Newborn Photography. Have a look at her transformation:
The first image is from the only newborn session she had done prior to our 1:1 studio consultation, the second was not just her photographing my set-up, this was styled, posed, wrapped and photographed by Beth!
Here’s the background of how she went from there...
...to here in a matter of weeks.
Beth contacted me in April saying she was interested in either attending a workshop or hiring me for a studio consultation and 2 day mentoring program. We went back and forth about the pros and cons of both programs and Beth decided that having me come to her own space and help her get her business off the ground was the priority. Her biggest concern besides handling and posing the babies was the light. Beth was starting her photography career pretty much from scratch and whilst there may be the option to build a new, dedicated studio in the future, for now the space was in one of two rooms in her home. She was worried that there wasn’t enough light in the rooms, but not enough space for studio light. My feeling is that there is “always enough light as long and you know how to control it”. She sent me photos of the two rooms and after a Skype call together I started to make plans for the transformation.
We set the date for July and I took a 7am flight to Gatwick and arrived at her place at 9.30am. After a quick coffee (for the record, nothing I do starts without a quick coffee or ends without a quick prosseco!) I toured the house and as I had suspected we settled on the spare room upstairs for the studio - this allowed her to set it up and leave it set for most of the time.
The room consisted of two small windows and a bed. As Beth sucked the air in through her teeth and gave me a a sideways look, I exhaled with joy! The potential of this room was huge and the light would be beautiful. She admitted that she’d rather been expecting me to through full diva fit and exclaim “I can not be expected to work in these conditions” before flouncing out! - Now I’m not saying I’ve never had such a reaction (those in the PTA can testify to that!) but in this case there was no need. The space had everything she needed, it was just a matter of how to manage it.
An hour later we’d gone over the 5 principles for setting up for an Authentic Newborn Session and had talked about how to be sure of you light and what you're looking for when creating a beautiful natural light setting. The next step was the “flow”.
For me, a huge part of Authentic Newborn Photography and a big part of what I teach is respect - for the baby, the family and for what you do. I’ll admit that in the past I would warn clients before they arrived that the session could take 3-4 hours and a lot of that time could be spent soothing and feeding the baby. I remember one session that took the full 4 hours, at the end of which we were all exhausted, stressed and the gallery still only consisted of a handful of shots. Unacceptable! New mums want to be home getting to know their baby, sleeping, eating, showering (luxury, I know), they want to be cuddled up with older siblings, their partner or enjoy a little private time. Yes, the clients that come to me value the art that I create for them and we usually get on incredibly well and chat about the birth, the pregnancy and the baby but they don’t want to spend half a day with me in a sweaty room. That’s why the workflow that I teach allows you to complete a varied gallery in about 40-50 minutes, leaving time for family shots and some chit chat and after 1 1/2 hours they get to go home. Beth practised the workflow using one of my Stand In Babies, we went through it several times until it stuck in her mind and began to feel natural. The workflow allows for each photographer to “own” their individual aesthetic as well as giving the baby space to show his or her own character. It serves as a template to let authenticity and creativity easily flow.
By 12.30 our models arrived. Harry’s mum was fabulous, calm, relaxed and a pro when it came to getting big sister Eloise involved. In this first model session I handled Harry, going through each step of the workflow and demonstratingwhere I would photograph him from, the angles and the settings. Beth photographed each step straight after me and I nudged her when necessary to correct her angle or perspective. We sailed through the shoot in 1 hour and 20 minutes and after a little feed Harry was off home, leaving Beth and I to study the post processing workflow and talk about business practise and marketing.
Day 2 began with a review of the flow posing and then straight into Beth’s supervised shoot. In a supervised shoot I serve only as an assistant to the lead photographer. Beth handled the baby, from wrapping to posing to photographing. I was on hand to help if needed but this was Beth’s shoot. And boy did she rock it!
The rest of the day dictated by what Beth felt she needed. We spent some more time on editing and pricing as well as preparing for the launch of her business.
At 3.30 I jumped on the train back to Gatwick and enjoyed my glass of prosseco before flying back to Milan.
Spending time with Beth was fantastic, I knew how dedicated and committed to the process she was as soon as we started talking on Skype and I also knew that she believed in Authentic Newborn Photography over the more traditional, posed genre. We talked at length about why this style calls to her and what her vision and goal is for herself as an artist. I was left anticipating a great start from her… and then it came…
Yesterday, exactly one week after our weekend together she sent me the results of her first “lone rider” shoot. And I was blown away! It took me 4 years and a lot of knitted bear hats to create a gallery which such natural images, consistent editing and a theme of simple authenticity.
I’m crazy proud of what she’s achieved and honoured to have been part of the process!
Studio Consultations and Private Mentoring is subject to limited availability. As with all intensive coaching it’s important that we’re a good match so if you’re interested in booking a program with me, let’s get together on Skype for a chat and see if we can make a plan to jump start your career as an Authentic Newborn Photographer.