How to choose a “Newborn” photographer in Utrecht, Leidsche Rijn

Babies bring with them lot of Joy, Hope and Dreams and when they arrive life is never the same again. As the new parents you would always want to freeze every moment with them and preserve those memories throughout your life. No wonder that Newborn photography is an ever-growing trend – giving the parents the most powerful gift of capturing the early and the most tender phase of the babies. But choosing the right photographer might be an overwhelming task, given the fact that there are umpteen photographers offering multiple packages, styles and various price ranges.

Being a qualified and trained photographer in the field of Newborn Photography, I have decided to put down my thoughts and suggestions on how to choose a newborn photographer and help the parents in making the right choice for their little bundles of joy.

  1. Safety First

No parent would ever do anything that would put the life of the baby at risk. The same principle applies here. Photography is a very vast subject and it has different specializations like Wedding, Portrait, Landscape, Wildlife , Newborn and Maternity and the list goes on. It is hard to be exceptional in all the genres of photography. Someone who is very good at Wedding or Wildlife photography need not necessarily have the right skills or equipment for capturing the newborn photos. The first task before enquiring about the prices or the availability of the photographer is to check if the photographer is certified and trained to handle a new born and understand the biology of the baby. There are major risks associated with hiring an amateur photographer.

Additionally, go through their portfolio to make sure that the photographer has done similar work in the past and has good experience in handling babies. You can ask the photographer about how they achieved certain poses from their portfolio if you are concerned about baby’s safety in that pose and no professional photographer would keep trade secrets when the safety is questioned.

You should also enquire about the props and poses that are used during the sessions and ensure that you are fully educated about how the photographer would handle babies in different poses. Also, don’t forget to ask if the props and wraps are baby friendly, you would not want your baby’s utter sensitive to be irritated.

Over the past 3 years I managed to collect a great number of baby wraps ,props and other items that added great beauty to the pictures. As a professional, I understand that babies that young are very vulnerable, and I ensure that all the items are sanitized and cleaned before using them in the session.

  1. Is this a registered and insured business?

You have to ensure that the photographer is running a registered and a well insured business. A well trained and a professional photographer would take all the necessary precautions to ensure that everything goes smoothly, but they would also be prepared to handle emergency situations. In case of an accident during the session, which has the lowest possibility of occurrence in a trained environment , you would need to be fully insured.

  1. Beware of Low-Priced and Cut-Priced photographers

I know that price is the most crucial factor while choosing a photographer. Believe me, this profession involves lot of expenditure and efforts from the photographer as well. If it is a legitimate business, then there are many costs involved in maintaining the studio.  Newborn photoshoots are usually conducted indoors when the babies are below 15 days and in this period the babies are very vulnerable and every precaution must be taken to ensure their safety. Setting up a baby friendly studio, maintaining utter clean environment and using high quality baby friendly products, installing safe and tested photography equipment are all very expensive tasks and these are to ensure that the baby’s safety is not compromised.

When a photographer comes with very low-priced offers, then believe me it is a red flag, the photographer is either doing this at the cost of baby’s safety or they would compromise on the quality of the pictures that you would get. The number of pictures that you get should never be the criteria for choosing a photographer. Thousands of unedited pictures for few bucks are worthless when compared to 10-15 professionally edited pictures for a decent price.

The “Newborn” phase is the shortest and the most beautiful phase and you would not want to compromise on the quality of the photographs and by choosing the right Newborn Photographer you will be able to keep these memories fresh forever.

  1. Length of the session

This is a very important question which most of the parents fail to ask during the initial meetings but later realize and regret. Newborn baby’s behaviour is very unpredictable and being new parents it would be quite challenging for you to settle down the baby when they become fussy. To make sure that you have sufficient time for the session ensure to discuss about the buffer time that you would have if the baby becomes very cranky and protests to settle down. If the photographer gives you less than an hour for the session or plans different sessions with another client with lesser gap then you need to find another photographer. Certified newborn photographers understand this and they schedule their sessions to ensure that the parents are given sufficient time to handle these situations.

In our studio, I make sure that not more than 2 new born sessions are booked on a single day and I spend close to 5 hours on each sessions. There were countless examples where my sessions extended more than the agreed time and I was more than happy to work for longer hours since the happiness of my client and the quality of the pictures is what matters to me in the end.

  1. Privacy Agreement

This is an another important factor which most people ignore. Personally I feel that my client’s privacy is very important to me and I would not involve in any act that would compromise their privacy. Parents should enquire about the use of the pictures for the photographer’s portfolio and on social media like Facebook , Instagram and should make agreements on the extent to which the photographs would be used. It is a normal practice to upload the photographer’s work on their private page and usually the legal names or the private profiles of the clients are not added in the post to respect their privacy.

  1. Costs , Availability , Packages

Last , but not the least , Cost would still play a vital role in deciding a photographer. But before making a decision based on this factor, make sure that you make a list of all the available photographers who satisfy all the above criteria and then try to narrow down to that one photographer who is available and affordable . If you are also planning to have your maternity shoot , try to contact the photographers at the earliest possible dates and most of them would provide their services as a package that includes maternity and the newborn photoshoot.

I hope my suggestions would help you in finding the right person to capture the most beautiful phase of your life. Happy Parenting!!!!