Something new for you mummies to be!
Mummies to be
You know me…Never one to stand still! As a complement to my pregnancy and baby portrait services, I’ve decided to introduce something brand new for you mummies to be. Something which I hope many of you will love.
I’ve been busy behind the scenes testing out a new idea, a plaster cast of a pregnant lady’s baby bump.
This makes a beautiful prop, in the shape of a bowl, which can then be incorporated into a newborn baby photoshoot several weeks later.
During your newborn photo shoot, the baby can be placed in the bowl – in my signature sleeping baby style – and then the bowl is yours to take home with you afterward, as a lasting memento of your pregnant shape.
What a lovely way to celebrate your pregnancy and to create a personalised photo prop for your baby’s first photoshoot!
I’m really excited about adding another string to my bow with maternity bump castings. I love learning new skills and trying out new things, and the feedback from ladies I’ve done a cast for is extremely positive.
The process is incredibly quick to do and is completely safe for you pregnant ladies. So, don’t worry about having to stand for long periods of time while you have your cast done, and the process isn’t uncomfortable for you either. I promise!
I hope that you love this idea?
If you’re expecting in the next sixth months, I’d love to get you booked in for your maternity bump casting soon! The ideal time to get one done is between 34-38 weeks of pregnancy. Please contact me to secure your session.
Also, please share news of my new service with all the pregnant ladies who you think would love to get one done. Thank you in advance!
Finally, if you’d like to know more please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you have.
I will be posting more examples of my maternity bump castings on my social media pages along with reviews from ladies who have tried it out for themselves.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Karen x
Radio Ga Ga , adventures of a Newborn Baby Photographer
Those of you who’ve met me will know that I’m not someone who craves the limelight, but when I’ve something important to say I’m happy to make my views known. And, yesterday I got to share the important message about safe practice in newborn baby photography when I was interviewed live on BBC Radio Solent and on BBC Radio West Dorset.
It’s something I’ve been talking about a lot on here recently as I believe the safety of the baby MUST come first, and that newborns shouldn’t be put in danger for the sake of a photograph. All safety-trained professional photographers know this of course, but parents using newborn photographers don’t necessarily realise how complex poses are created. So, I wanted to do my bit to increase awareness.
I arrived at the Bournemouth International Centre early yesterday morning and was chaperoned to the unmanned studio based there, shortly afterwards to be linked to Julian Clegg and his team who were broadcasting live from Southampton. Eek! At this point the nerves really set in!
Julian was great though and, after a friendly introduction, gave me five minutes of airtime to discuss how newborn photography can be practiced safely and to explain how posed shots, like the ‘head in hands’ shot is created using digital imagery techniques. The subject sparked a bit of controversy as not everyone is a fan of newborn photography of course but, as I stressed in the interview, I prefer the more natural baby poses myself although am trained and able to safely create the composite images such as the head in hands if a parent requests it.
I had a second interview on BBC Radio West Dorset as well, and have also recently been featured in the Bournemouth Daily Echo.
I hope that my small part in spreading awareness about this important issue helps to keep more babies safe during their newborn photoshoots.
Until next time,
Karen x
Fantastic Mr Fox, Newborn Photography
Creating composite images: A behind-the-scenes look at how it’s done
Hello everyone! This week I’ve been busy in the studio creating a fantastic Mr fox photo, once again working with children and animals (I must be mad, ha ha!).
As you may know I’ve photographed dogs and ducks before but this was the first time ever that the KW photography studio had been visited by a pair of chickens! Kindly brought in by my pal Laurraine, these lovely clucky feathered friends, Thelma & Louise became the co-stars of a photograph that’s due to be published in an up-coming edition of DORSET magazine in conjunction with CobWebKnits.
Because I like to do things differently every now and then, I wanted to capture the hens alongside a sleeping newborn baby wearing an adorable fox hat by CobWebKnits; our very own ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and his clucking friends!
Here I’m going to explain how I took the concept from a vision to reality, and how I achieved the final, composite, image; what I’m calling my ‘clucking creation’! Suffice to say that it involved a lot of chasing chickens around the studio (!), all the usual newborn baby soothing and posing, and then some magic in Photoshop.
Most importantly, at no time was the baby actually in the studio at the same time as the chickens, as I am absolutely committed to ensuring a baby’s safety at all times. (You may also be interested in my recent blog post about safety in newborn photography here). Im also a member of BANPAS.
The chicken session
Stage one was the chicken shoot! They came in the day before baby was due to be photographed, and kept Laurraine and I on our toes, as we followed them around the studio and repeatedly placed them in position (they weren’t very cooperative!). Honestly, you should have seen us! We had such fun. It was like the famous Benny Hill sketch with the chasing chickens – we just needed the music to be playing in the background to match the mood in the studio that day!
The baby session
Next up was gorgeous baby Arlo, just eight days new. He came in the following day, once I’d thoroughly cleaned up the studio, leaving no trace at all of the feathered fun that we had had.
Positioned safely within the basket with his mum carefully holding and supporting him at all times, Arlo was such an adorable, obliging subject. He slept well while I took the shots, including this one of him in the ‘head on hands’ pose
It’s magic!
The final stage, the post-production stage, is when I was able to combine the two images together. Thanks to the magic of Photoshop it appears that Arlo was posed without support, and that the chicken and Mr Fox were photographed together, but as you all now know… they weren’t.
Check out the video of the shoot here
to take a closer look at how it was done. I hope you enjoy!
Until next time,
Karen x
Choosing your newborn photographer
Newborn photography is now a popular lifestyle choice for many new parents. As the genre has become more popular in the UK in recent years, after first becoming en vogue in America, families throughout the country are now generating an unprecedented demand, which has, in turn, led to an increasing number of photographers offering a newborn photography service. Let me help you with choosing your newborn photographer.
Yet, when it comes to choosing your newborn photographer – someone in whom they are to trust handling and manoeuvring their precious just-born baby – it can undoubtedly prove difficult to decide who to choose. Should they select solely on price? Or are there other factors to consider?
Since there is currently no official qualification that a photographer offering a newborn photography service needs to achieve, unfortunately, the industry is, in effect, unregulated. To put it bluntly, anyone with a camera could potentially claim to be a newborn photography professional, and I can say for certain that there are many very unprofessional, inexperienced people doing just that!
It genuinely frightens me to think of how these so-called ‘professional’ newborn photographers must be posing the newborn babies presented to them. Without any professional training whatsoever, and therefore without having learnt the essential skills of how to safely pose babies, photographers are out there trying out baby poses and positioning these young children in potentially dangerous ways. And all the while, the unwitting parents are none the wiser to the danger that they have put their babies in since they’ve probably never had newborn photos taken before, and they’ve trusted and believed the claims of the ‘professional’ photographer without question. Even looking at a photographers portfolio can be misleading, there are stock images you can buy or unscrupulous photographers will actually just use other photographers photos and pass them off as their own. This very thing has happened to me more than once, sadly there are people out there happy to make a fast buck.
I believe there’s also huge concern about those newborn photographers who are promising a photo session and photos cheap some as low as £20! In my view, such a price can only reflect the fact that the photographer is sub-standard and potentially unsafe posing your baby.
Ideally all newborn photographers would adhere to a professional code of conduct that is designed to safeguard babies and their parents. My hope is that in time, organisations such as the Baby and Newborn Photography Association (BANPAS) will be able to make this a reality.
I’ll undoubtedly blog about this topic again in the future as this subject is one very close to my heart and there is so much more to say. In the mean time I’d love to hear your opinions, and to learn what factors made you choose your newborn photographer, whether you used me or someone else. Please comment and I look forward to reading your responses.
Until next time,
Karen x
MAMUK commissions KW Photography
National baby brand commission complete for MAMUK!
If you’ve been to me for a newborn photoshoot this year you’ll be well aware that I have been working for national baby brand MAM UK. They are the lovely people who have been providing loads of free baby products which I have been giving out to you all in goody bags after every newborn photo session!
The partnership with MAM UK came about earlier this year, after they saw an article with some of my newborn portraits in the national press. They liked my work so contacted me and we’ve worked together ever since. I’m hugely excited about it because while I have done commercial photography projects before, this is my first commission from a national brand!
MAMUK was after some new baby-focussed photography for their marketing materials. So I recently photographed their new range of dummies at my Poole-based photographic studio with the assistance of some obliging and extremely gorgeous baby models Marnie , Daisy Theo and Max – I couldn’t have done it without you!
After sending off the final images to MAM UK, not only did I get some really positive feedback from them but I’m delighted to see that they have already started to use the images in national advertising and in social media campaigns!
They’ve been posting the new campaign on their Facebook page and you can also find out more about the great range of MAM UK baby products on their website.
