Hi! I’m Kathleen and I’m a family and newborn photographer serving the Denver metro area of Colorado! I love newborn lifestyle sessions in my clients’ homes and outdoor family sessions. I also do Fresh 48’s and maternity sessions!
Over the last few years, I have absolutely fallen in love with newborns sessions in my clients’ homes because they have a way of telling the story of your family. Rather than focusing on the perfect pose, I focus on connection, emotions, and all of the sweet moments that you’ll want to remember. Whether you are first time parents, or parents with a house full of toddlers and kids, lifestyle sessions truly document your family in an authentic way.
Part of your family’s story is documenting all of the moments… so even when if baby is settled and sleeping, I ask moms and dads to rock their babies, cuddle with them, kiss their fingers, stroke their cheeks. Why? Because something beautiful happens when I’m not posing you perfectly and you are loving on your baby. I capture a smile on a parent’s face that I can’t otherwise create. I find the real emotion and the feelings that you want document, unfold perfectly when you are connecting with your baby.
One my favorite parts of lifestyle sessions is that no two sessions are the same. With the focus on moments and raw emotion, I guide you to do things with your baby, but don’t put you into a perfect pose. I look at way the light in coming into each room and guide you on where to stand. I’ll rarely ask you to look at me, but to instead connect with baby, your spouse, and your other children.
Part of the storytelling process is incorporating your toddlers into as much of the newborn sessions as possible. When I arrive at your home, I get down on their level and talk to them about what a big helper they are and how special they must be to mommy and daddy. Typically, toddlers are in a huge transition phase from having their parents’ complete attention to feeling a bit like a second fiddle. Talking on their level helps them to feel important and I can get them in join in on the photos more easily. Once we get started, I ask them to do simple tasks and I praise them a ton when they do them. I’ll ask them to sneak over quietly and check to see if baby’s eyes are open. That creates a natural moment between siblings. I can ask them to help sing a lullaby to the baby, softly touch baby’s hair, or count baby’s toes. I ask the parents to continually hug, kiss, and praise their big kids. These moments full of connections between family members create emotional images that I strive to deliver to my clients.
Since I only use the natural light from windows, I ask that you open the curtains and blinds. The light pouring in from your windows is part of the storytelling. I love the look of both large well-lit rooms as well as rooms with a single window where we achieve a more dramatic lighting scenario. There is no set flow to each newborn session, so I am able to move between the parents’ bedroom, the nursery, and the family room whenever is seems fit.
Lifestyle newborn sessions can truly be scheduled at any time, but if you’d like them to be with your tiny newborn, it’s best to try for between 1-3 weeks after birth. It’s perfectly ok to wait a bit and do a lifestyle session at 3 months or 6 months, too! In fact, some families choose to do lifestyle sessions in their home each year instead of outdoor photos because they like the emotional connections captured in their home.
About 2 weeks after the session, you will receive about 75-100 professionally edited, high resolution digital photos that you can download and print as you wish about 2 weeks after the session.
Thank you for trusting me to capture your family’s story.
xoxo,
Kathleen
www.kathleenbrackenphotography.com
