One-Year Baby Milestone Sessions are Joyful and Fun!

There are so many milestones in your baby’s first life, and a professional photographer can help you capture some of them. One of my favored baby milestones to photograph is the one-year session! I do one-year sessions either outdoors or in my studio. If you have a baby that likes to move and doesn’t like to sit still, an outdoor session can be playful and fun. Studio sessions are great because with my studio lighting and white background, I can create light, bright, modern images of your baby. I like to make my sessions fun and relaxed.

If you were a fly on the wall of my studio, you would hear me playing peek-a-boo, making all kinds of random animal noises, pretending to cough and sneeze, playing music, literally anything to elicit even a tiny smile from your baby. I never promise smiles, by the way. One year olds are unpredictable! But, I do my absolute best to help your baby feel relaxed, at ease and happy. If I can produce a giggle or a full-blown smile, that’s a home run. These photos are from a recent one-year baby session, and as you can see, this little one had a blast during her studio session!

What is the Potato Sack Pose for Newborns?

Potato Sack Pose is a funny name for one of the classic newborn poses in newborn photography. Many clients love this pose because you can get beautiful images of baby’s face, and it looks magical, having baby propped up like a little egg. When you are hiring a newborn photographer, you want to find someone with experience working with newborns and training in newborn safety. In this pose for example, baby is wrapped with three wraps to provide appropriate support. Additional support is placed around baby’s body and under baby’s elbows, and I always use a spotter (usually a parent) to be just out of camera range watching baby’s head closely. In addition to supports in this newborn pose, care has to be taken to make sure baby is not wrapped too tightly, that baby’s airway is not constricted in any way, and that baby does not get too warm. These are among the things I look for when I am working with babies during their newborn session and doing this pose. I’m going into my 7th year photographing babies, and newborn safety has always been of the utmost importance to me, followed by creating gorgeous images. :)

Best Newborn Session Props

An experienced newborn photographer will know what props to use during your session to maximize and capture your baby’s fresh newborn cuteness. Props, in my opinion, are mostly there to support your baby in sweet poses, however they can also add to the aesthetic beauty of the overall image. If there are specific props that you want included, mention them to your newborn photographer so they can tailor the session for you.

My go to props are a shallow, wide bucket and a tiny baby bed. I’m partial to neutrals, so I love a white prop, or a natural or dark wood. You cannot go wrong with neutral colors, as they are timeless. I can get a wide variety of poses and angles using both of these props. They are also adorable additions to any session. Here are a few images using my favorite newborn posing props. The addition of different colors, layers and textures on top of the props completely changes the look of the images, and is a beautiful way to tailor the session to your client’s desires.

My newborn studio is stocked with a full inventory of layers, textures, colors, and props, and my clients are welcome to use anything they see during their session!

Newborn Hospital Sessions are Adorable!

I had never heard of “newborn photography” until I gave birth to my twins in a hospital in New York. The day after delivery, a photographer employed by the hospital knocked on the door to our room and asked if I wanted some photos of my new babies. I was delighted and agreed. The photographer took very simple, natural photos of my newborns. She placed them together, lightly swaddled by the white hospital sheets, and photographed them leaning into each other. Somehow, just a day after birth, she captured marvelous hints of their personalities, like my daughter’s sweetness and my son’s playfulness.

Those simple, natural, beautiful images are still some of my most favorite photographs, and I have them framed decorating my home. Looking at those photos, I remember how little my babies were when they were born. I remember the pumping and nursing, the sleeplessness, the magic and awe of holding them in my arms. It’s hard to believe they were once so tiny!

Because I treasure those photographs from my own hospital newborn session, I particularly enjoy capturing the day after birth for clients. Newborn sessions at the hospital are called “Fresh 48” sessions, because they capture your baby in the first 48 hours after birth. I focus on capturing the feel of those early hours, the closeness, the love, the tiredness and the beauty of those early moments. I like to focus on snuggles and tiny details like toes, fingers, and eyes. I capture your family together, including any visiting grandparents or siblings. I of course capture lots of parent/baby images.

I love Fresh 48 sessions so much! They last about 45 minutes to an hour, and I usually provide my clients between 50-90 unique images edited for exposure, color and contrast. If you are thinking of doing a Fresh 48 session, and have questions, feel free to reach out! Here are a few images from my most recent hospital newborn session. This gives clients an idea of what to expect in terms of style during my newborn sessions. As you can see, I keep things simple, organic, natural and beautiful during hospital newborn sessions — just like my clients.

Gorgeous Austin Newborn Session (Blush Pink and Lavender)

I loved working with this baby during her newborn session. Here parents booked a standard newborn session so that we could get the full gamut of classic newborn poses, everything from potato sack pose, chin on hands pose, and several wrapped poses in bowls, buckets and beds. Isn’t she just gorgeous! It’s rare to get photographs of a newborn with eyes open where baby looks content and calm, but she gave us those images as well! While I photographed and wrapped baby, her parents relaxed in the sitting area in my studio, enjoying watching the session. That’s one of the best things about a studio newborn session with Snow Pixie Photography — parents get to relax, often for the first time since having baby, while I take over for a couple of hours!

Outdoor Family Photography Session - Pease Park

There are so many beautiful outdoor spaces in Austin to have your family’s annual photography session. Austin is lucky enough to have the Greenbelt, an area of preserved natural environment with trees, foliage year round, lovely winding creeks, and rock formations. In addition to the Greenbelt, there are parks all over Austin. I photograph families all over Austin and in the surrounding areas. I will come to a family’s home, a park nearby, or to any of a number of locations all over Austin that I can recommend. Have questions about a potential photography location? Contact me! Let’s chat.

I photographed this beautiful family at Pease Park, a lovely park in Austin that was just redone. The entire play area was overhauled, native plants were put in, and a huge spherical play area was erected. If you haven’t visited Pease Park, you should! The park also has tons of trails, and large open grassy areas. We went there in the morning and took advantage of a warm, sunny day to capture and celebrate this little girl turning one. Happy Birthday cutie!

Here are a few of my favorite images from the session. Snow Pixie Photography books family sessions year round. It’s always nice to do them early to avoid the rush of holiday cards.

A Little Fisherman's 8 Month Baby Milestone Session

It’s hard to say which type of sessions I love the best — newborns, babies and maternity sessions are special, unique and beautiful. This month, I’m loving the baby milestone sessions, particularly the 6 - 8 month baby sessions. Baby photography during the first year can capture your baby during all of his or her milestones, freezing time for a moment, when your baby is growing and changing at light speed. My style is modern, natural and timeless, keeping the focus on baby with understated props, soft colors, and natural textures.

At 6-8 months, your baby can do so many things! Babies can sit, have awesome tummy time abilities, are smiling and laughing, playing with their toes, and giving you all kinds of adorable expressions. There is so much to document. So much to remember. Every baby is different, and I always customize the photography session according to my client’s style preferences, and also to ensure it is safe for whatever stage your baby is at.

This handsome little boy gave me all the smiles! He has huge bright laughing eyes, and a contagious grin. He was an absolute joy to photograph. The session was triply sweet, as I had photographed his two sisters for their baby milestone sessions, and done a maternity session for his parents. That’s one of the gifts of being a photographer, you get to work with clients over years, building relationships and seeing their families grow. As a photographer you are in a privileged position, trusted to capture your client’s memories. I just love it.

Getting back to this little one, it turns out his grandfather and father love fishing, so naturally his very prepared mother brought along a miniature fishing pole to use during the session as a prop. Little man gave us all the feels when he picked up and held the fishing pole during the session, beaming a huge smile the entire time. What an amazing image to capture for his dad and grandfather, and for him when he is old enough to look back at the image. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of fishing trips and wonderful family memories in store for this sweet little boy.

Pink Outdoor Cake Smash!

I had to post about this perfectly styled cake smash session. This mama knocked it out of the park. The balloons, setting and stunning dress were all perfection. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a huge tulle dress, and this dress was amazing! Celebrating baby’s first year, and first time getting messy with a cake, is such a fun joyful moment to capture. It’s one of my favorite baby milestones to capture as a baby photographer. In particular I love outdoor baby cake smash sessions, because there is a lot of freedom in being outside, and Austin has such lovely green spaces to serve as beautiful backdrops for outdoor photography sessions. Here are a few of my favorite images from this cake smash session:

October 2018 (One Year)

A lovely one year birthday photography session with a lovely family. I have so much fun photographing babies and catching them as they hit all the milestones of the first year: smiling, tummy time, sitting, crawling, walking, and of course turning ONE! This little boy is adorable, and we captured so many sweet moments between him and his parents during our outdoor photography session. I love the photograph of his daddy enveloping him in a hug after he had walked to him, and all the images of him and his beautiful mommy are simply precious. What a beautiful family!

March 2018 (Baby)

10-Month Baby Milestone Session

I love Baby Milestone Photography Sessions! I especially love returning clients because I get to capture images of their beautiful babies growing over time. (Check out  my "Grow With Me" Packages). I first met this handsome fellow at his 5-month Baby Milestone Photography Session, and then had the honor of photographing him here at his 10-month Baby Milestone Session.  I had a wonderful time seeing his family again and photographing this little guy.  He was a sweetheart and gave us huge smiles, particularly when we let him play with some wooden blocks.  As a special treat, we were able to capture some lovely images of him with his grandmother - something I think everyone should do!

March 2018 (Newborn)

Studio Newborn Session - Two Week Old Baby

I loved everything about this newborn session!  The baby was a perfect doll and slept the entire photography session (I have been on a roll in 2018 with soundly sleeping babies!).  The parents were the sweetest and an absolute joy to work with.  I also loved the colors, mixtures of grey, pinks, and whites.  It is always hard to choose my favorite images from newborn session galleries, but here are a few of the ones I loved.  Look how radiant this beautiful mommy is!

Austin Newborn Photographer

February 2018 (Newborn)

Studio Session

I first met these lovely clients when I did their maternity photography session.  A short time later, their beautiful baby boy arrived, and I got to work with them again for his newborn session.  I held the newborn session in my studio, and like every baby of 2018 (so far!) he slept the entire session. I am on a sleeping newborn streak!  Some of my favorite images from the newborn session are of baby in the box, as well as the family images.  I used a natural flokati that I recently purchased from Rugs USA, and loved it!  

Austin Newborn Photographer

February 2018 (Newborn)

In-Home Newborn Session

I recently photographed this beautiful baby boy for his newborn session.  The newborn session was an in-home newborn session in my clients' home.  My clients and their beautiful new baby were all incredibly sweet, and the such a pleasure to photograph.  I loved so many of the images from this in-home newborn photography session.  Here are a few of my favorite photos of this beautiful baby boy, and his lovely parents:

January 2018 (Newborn)

Studio Newborn Session / Two Weeks

I had the sweetest couple and their new baby girl in my studio for a newborn session.  In the last few months I have switched to holding all newborn sessions in my studio and I love it!   I have different sets ready for clients and clients get a choice of all of the props in my studio.  For this little baby girl, we styled her newborn session with pinks and whites, and because her mommy is a hair stylist we did one special fun set-up.  Can you guess which one?  Here are some of my favorite photos from their studio newborn photography session:

January 2018 (Newborn)

In-Home Newborn Session / Baby Boy

This in-home newborn session was so much fun and very special to me, because it was my nephew! I photographed this beautiful baby boy for his newborn session when he was just under two weeks of age.  The baby slept almost the entire newborn session.  I love so many of the images, but some of my favorites are the photos of the newborn against the charcoal background. I also love how the family photos turned out!  As a family photographer, I often hold family portrait sessions outdoors. However, I always include a few family photos as part of my newborn sessions, as I believe it is so special and beautiful to capture images of mom, dad, and baby during those first few weeks after birth.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from this newborn session:

Austin Newborn Photographer

October 2017 (Baby)

I had the privilege of photographing this adorable little boy's Baby Session at 5 months!  It is the perfect age to catch babies playing with their toes, laying on their tummies, and sometimes starting to sit up.  Close-ups are also a must because they are so cute!  Here are some of my favorites: