"Learning is a journey, not a destination"

Longtime followers of my blog will know my views on training: I believe that there is always something else to learn and something new to experience. It's a reason why I love to share my training experiences here and shout about it - by training, I am improving my skills, which ultimately can only benefit my clients.

Every year, I set a training budget and a training plan, with priorities for what I'd like to learn during that year. Top of the list this year was a one-to-one newborn photography training workshop with the amazing Claire Elliott. As part of my ongoing quest for development, I have been mentored by Claire for the last three years, through my membership of The Guild of Photographers. It is her mentorship that has helped me to gain Qualified Status with the Guild, as well as win monthly awards with them.

I've specialised in photographing families since I started the business seven years ago, so why train specifically in newborns? Photographing newborn babies is quite different to photographing older babies, toddlers and children. As soon as little ones can move, they are pretty much in charge of the session - they decide how long they'll sit still for (if at all!) and where they're going. However, newborn babies need a certain amount of posing. I am keen to offer a comprehensive service for all families, whether you are expecting a baby, have a newborn or older children.

When posing and photographing newborns it's important to take care of their safety and wellbeing. Whilst I have been photographing newborns throughout my career, I was keen to advance my skills to be more confident in posing babies whilst ensuring their comfort. Claire, in my opinion, is one of the best in the business and had lots to share with me. As well as posing, we focused on lighting, wrapping babies for a more natural look, and tips for settling babies (some of which are amazing and as new parents you will be keen to learn to!).

The day started with some theory and the basics of setting up the equipment and lighting. We had a model in during the morning, which Claire talked me through in detail how to pose, light and photograph. In the afternoon, we were joined by a second model, and this time it was my turn to direct the session; posing, lighting and photographing the baby according to what I'd been taught that morning. Claire was on hand to supervise and answer any questions I had, as well as provide additional tips along the way.

In the slideshow above, you can see some of the images taken during our session. You can also see one of me in action settling on our the little models, and finally, I've shared an image taken in a newborn session since the training workshop - I was happy to be able to implement everything I'd learnt (all the settling tricks worked!) and provide my clients with some beautiful images. I'm looking forward to photographing lots more babies soon - if you'd like to book in for a newborn session, it is best to photograph your baby within their first two weeks, so please get in contact to book your session.