Creating a Newborn Gallery with One Window in a Boston Home

When it comes to Boston newborn photo in-home sessions there tend to be a few excuses that are used over and over – my house isn’t big enough, there isn’t enough natural light and it isn’t magazine worthy.   I totally get it.  When I had a photographer come to my house I stressed about these things too and threw a bunch of stuff into the closest.  But when I look back a the sessions, I don’t see those things.  I see the love and the connection, which really comes through at a newborn session. You can be tired from not sleepy or irritable from trying to soothe this new life but there is a moment when you look at the baby when everything comes together.

Even if you don’t think there is enough light in your home an entire session can be created with one window.  In Boston, where row houses are common sometimes one window is all we have to work with. By using the light in different ways an entire gallery can be created.

All the newborn photos below were created using window in the living room.  You can see that there are three large windows in the main room. The only other window in the space is way in the back by the kitchen, which really didn’t offer much light in the area where we were working.

The Boston home did have a basement first floor where we did take a few more photographs but the bulk of the session was in this area.

If you are a photographer, have you ever participated in an exercise where you pick one thing and have to photograph it as many ways as you can think of?  This is a bit similar but you also get the emotional connection and intimacy that is lacking from an inanimate object.

I find when I’m limited, my creativity flourishes.  Think about the various ways you can use that one light – front light, back light, side slight, etc. And, then vary the images with  wide angles shots supplementing with closeup shots.  After you add in portraits of the baby alone, the baby with mom, the baby with dad, and everyone together with alternating lighting techniques you’ll have a full gallery before you know it.

There is a well known principle called KISS – keep is simple, stupid.  I think the “keep it simple” part works so well for newborn lifestyle session. In photography, there is a tendency to overthink the session but  you don’t need much to make a newborn session magical, it already is.

Beth Ann is a portrait photographer based in Belmont MA just outside of Boston. She is currently booking Boston NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY, Boston FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY, Boston  BABY PHOTOGRAPHY SESSIONS AND SENIOR PORTRAIT SESSIONS IN THE BOSTON AREA. BE SURE TO CONTACT HER TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR NEWBORN, BABY, FAMILY OR WEDDING.