When should newborn photos be taken? Newborn photos are best taken within the first two weeks after your baby is born. This allows us to capture sleepy images as well as get more poses accomplished. Your baby is more likely to become uncooperative as he or she gets older, and won’t go into poses as easily. What if my baby was in the NICU or otherwise unable to have newborn photos within the first 10-14 days? Life happens, and we have to work with what we have. When it comes to photographing an older baby, we have to adjust our expectations. Honestly, every newborn session, regardless of how old your baby is, will only go how your little one allows it to. This may mean that we can only get photos of your baby wrapped up nice and snug, or that we need to do more photos with mom and dad holding them. Or maybe your little one will let us take a nice variety of pictures, but needs more breaks in between poses. That’s OK, too! When should I schedule my newborn session? One thing within your control is scheduling your session early. I highly recommend booking your newborn […] Continue Reading
Every year my family gets a brand new wall calendar. Sometimes we opt for quotes, or cartoons, or even scenic photos, but there’s always something special about a custom calendar full of family photos. They can be great to look back at all year yourself or to gift to other family members. (Grandparents love them!) Calendar photos can be heavily themed with elaborate set-ups, or they can be a variety of images from just one or two photo sessions. Personally, I lean more toward the latter, although heavily themed sessions have their place. You can get plenty of variety in a single session to create a beautifully diverse calendar. This year, for a little extra variety, I’m offering a limited amount of calendar packages. These packages include 2 sessions from which you can select photos for your 2021 calendar and you also get one customized calendar. Because calendars are always a hit with the grandparents, you are more than welcome to add additional calendars onto your order after your sessions. The sky’s the limit! If this sounds like something you’re interested in this 2020 holiday season, contact me and we can see what type of sessions you’d like for your […] Continue Reading
What is conscious pregnancy? Conscious Pregnancy? I’m sure you’re wondering how in the world can someone be pregnant and not conscious during it, right? Well, it’s easier than you would think, especially in our busy, industrial lives, when taking a breath – or taking a break – can be a big undertaking. During pregnancy, we learn, read, and hear a lot about how important diet and exercise is for our body and our baby. This is absolutely true! It’s important to eat nourishing, healthy food and limit unhealthy foods, because baby is tasting them too. It is also important to make sure you move daily, which helps you and baby to have better health outcomes. Walking (a lot), practicing yoga, dancing, and swimming are all great; just make sure you move every day because movement also helps with stress. Find something that you enjoy doing so it sticks! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michigan Baby Photographer (@goodhewphotography) on Oct 9, 2018 at 5:51pm PDT Protecting your body during pregnancy is crucial and so is protecting your mind and your heart. While ancient cultures have known this for thousands of years, and, so have put into practice […] Continue Reading
Pregnancy and childbirth are times of incredible transformation both emotionally and physically. After the baby is born, you may feel overwhelmed with figuring out how to care for this beautiful little human, adjusting to diminished sleep, and giving your body the time and rest it needs to heal. There are many things that you can do, however, to support your body in healing and also to provide nourishment to both you and baby. Drink more water Breastfeeding mothers need more water in order to produce milk and stay hydrated. Increasing water consumption is also recommended after birth to help overcome dehydration from blood and fluid loss, medications, and/or surgical procedures. One way to increase fluids is to have a refillable water bottle that you can carry around and also a glass of water next to wherever you nurse. The general recommendation is to have 9-13 glasses of water per day but a good indication of hydration is reaching a point where your urine is a pale straw colour. Give your body the energy it needs The postpartum period is a time where sleep may be difficult to come by and you are getting used to being on a totally different […] Continue Reading
Being a photographer in Jackson, Michigan, you know I just have to take some pictures of my own children downtown. I love the atmosphere downtown, and especially the Bright Walls murals. Continue Reading
When you have a newborn in the house, your entire home can get turned upside down. Sometimes it can take awhile to get into a new routine of things with your new baby. With the added stress that comes with the holiday season, you can start to feel like you’re just barely getting by. If you have a newborn in tow this holiday season, I’m going to share with you my secrets to surviving, and dare I say thriving, during the holidays with a new baby. Avoid peak travel times whenever possible Holiday travel is an inevitable part of the holiday season. Whether you are heading out of town to visit family or just making a trip to the store, you will want to avoid peak travel times. Peak travel times might be manageable during the rest of the year, but during the holiday season, you can expect MUCH heavier crowds, which are not ideal for moms with newborns onboard. Instead, look for off-peak days and travel times to avoid traffic. Simplify the holiday with your newborn You can’t do it all, and that’s the harsh truth. If you’re not a Pinterest mom, don’t choose now to start. You can’t […] Continue Reading
I recently had the pleasure of taking family portraits for the Mitchell family. Leanne already has two daughters and now she and her husband are expecting their first baby boy, so although it was a family session, we made sure to get a couple of “maternity” poses. Sparks Park is where The Cascades are located and is a beautiful park to do any portrait session. It’s a huge park with many scenic locations, so there’s sure to be a variety. My favorite location had to be right by the water as the sun was setting. If you’re looking to plan your next family portrait session, I would love to set up a consultation. Whether you want your photos taken at the Cascades, or somewhere else, I am happy to help. Contact me to get started planning your photography session. Continue Reading
Since becoming a portrait photographer, I find that I have more images of everybody else than I do of my own family. I love lifestyle photography and especially the images I take of my own children, but I often get so busy with our day to day life that I neglect to take out my camera. One thing I have been working on lately is being more intentional with my camera in my home life. So, this Memorial Day when we headed off to visit my mom, I made a point to get my camera out. After we had dinner and headed home, we decided to stop at an ice cream parlor. My mom lives in the Irish Hills, and we live in Jackson, so we pass quite a few ice cream parlors on the way home. And because it was a holiday, most of them were packed with people. We found one that we actually had never been to before, despite passing it regularly, and decided to stop there. Luckily they had a canopy because not long after we arrived at Scream’n Mimi’s it started raining. With the canopy, we didn’t have to rush back to the car, and […] Continue Reading
Early last year, I did maternity portraits for Mikayla. I can’t believe it’s been that long already! Of course, the day that we had chosen to do her portraits, we had a pretty awful snow storm. Luckily, there was a barn on the property that had a beautifully finished area to act as our studio for the day and provide a break from the freezing cold outside. After we took photos both inside and outside, we traveled nearby to take a few more outside portraits. Between the cold and the quickly falling snow, we weren’t able to spend too much time outside. However, sometimes a few minutes is all you need. Contact me today to schedule a consultation. I would love to talk to you about your ideal portrait session. Continue Reading
Your family portraits As a full-service photographer, there’s not much I love more than a family enjoying their portraits up on the walls of their home. I know how valuable it is for those to be something you and your children see day in and day out. Especially as they grow and change before your eyes. Each change is incremental, but before you know it, they won’t be the same as they were during your portrait session. If you walked into my house, you would certainly see a mess… but if you took a moment to look past that, you would see what truly matters to me. Of course, the mess comprised of children’s toys and books is a piece of that puzzle, but the images up on the walls and shelves are another. I want that for my clients too. No, no, not the mess. I want my clients to walk into their living room every day and see the people they love most up on the wall. I want that for you. While everybody has different preferred mediums, framed portraits are a great way to enjoy your images as the artwork they are. I pride myself on offering […] Continue Reading
