Newborn Sessions: Working With Light, Sleep and Patience

A newborn session is ninety percent waiting and ten percent photography. Families who understand that leave with the pictures they hoped for.

Light first, everything else second

I look for one large window, north-facing if the home has one, and I turn every other light off. Mixed colour temperature is the fastest way to make a newborn's skin look wrong.

• Room warm — 26 to 28°C. A cold baby will not sleep.
• Feed just before we start, not on arrival.
• Plain fabrics; patterns compete with a face two weeks old.
• Three hours blocked, even though we may finish in one.