Auckland Newborn and Baby Photographer

Mentoring Student – Kylie Douglass

November 28, 2014

I mentored Kylie Douglass from Kylie Douglass Photography in March of 2014. Kylie flew up from Christchurch to mentor with me and we had a great day. I have enjoyed seeing the skills she has learnt from me being put into practice in her beautiful work.

Here is her review of the mentoring:
One of my goals this year was to move from shooting newborns using natural light in clients’ homes to shooting sessions in my home studio using studio lighting. I wanted to shoot in an environment where I could optimise the set up, and most importantly, work with controlled lighting. My aim was to improve my sessions overall, but in particular, the flow of the session, poses, and streamlining editing post shoot. Although I had always used lighting in the studio, I hadn’t used it with newborns. I read articles and watched tutorials online, but before I made the change, I wanted to see and find out more ‘in person’ because I knew that that would be the best way to truly learn. I love Amy’s work and the fact that she held workshops covering exactly what I needed and wanted to know meant that there was only one thing to do!

The workshop itself was exactly what I had hoped for, and more, and I learnt so much in one day. Amy was so welcoming and open with sharing her knowledge and answering questions. It was fantastic to be able to watch Amy work, and at the same time practice taking shots with my own camera, get immediate feedback and try again.

Following the workshop, the ongoing mentoring, feedback and advice from Amy is simply invaluable. I am now so much more confident in my work and how I approach a session. I wouldn’t hesitate recommending this workshop to anyone who loves and wants to improve their newborn photography. Thanks Amy : )

Divjot (9 weeks)

by Amy

Mentoring Student – Briar Elisabeth

November 28, 2014

I mentored Briar Elisabeth from Briar Elisabeth Photography in September of 2013. Briar came from Gordonton in the Waikato to learn from me. Briar was already incredibly talented when she came to see me and I have enjoyed watching her work grow and develop even more.

Here is her review of the mentoring:
I attended Amy’s mentoring workshop in August, 2013, and have found so many of her tips useful in improving my work. She has so much knowledge and shares it so willingly. I am finally producing images that I am truly happy with. The workshop hasn’t been a one off experience , but Amy continues to keep in touch, giving valuable feedback when requested. I would recommend this workshop to any photographer thinking that it may be for them.

Briar before and after

by Amy

Mentoring Student – Kylie Day

November 28, 2014

I mentored Kylie Day from Kylie Day Photography in May of 2013. Kylie came from Rotorua to mentor with me. It has given me great joy to watch the development of Kylie’s work and her confidence grow.

Here is her review of the mentoring:
I did Amy’s workshop about 6 months ago, and since then I have dramatically changed not only the way I pose & photograph babies, but also the way I run my business. Before doing this workshop I was at the stage where I wasn’t getting the results I wanted and I started to question whether I was really cut out to be a photographer. I use to spend way too much time setting up for shots, and never getting them right in camera, which then lead me to spend hours and hours in Photoshop trying to get them to look decent! Now I can use my studio lighting with confidence letting me focus more on getting the posing just right and my editing is only a fraction of what I used to do. Amy taught me so much more than I could have ever learnt from just watching Youtube videos, or reading posing guides. The one-on-one mentoring was perfect for allowing me to learn what I needed to know, plus all those little ‘secret tips’ that Amy uses to get her babies looking so perfect were invaluable. I would highly recommend Amy’s workshop to any photographer wanting to take their newborn photography to the next level.

by Amy

Older Newborn Photography

November 7, 2014

Mireya, 9 weeks

This blog post is about photographing babies who are over 4 weeks. It’s aimed at parents who feel like they may have missed the boat if they don’t get baby photographed in those first 10 days. Yes under 10 days is ideal so they are super sleepy and still in that curly stage, and their skin is still mostly perfect. But it is not always possible for many reasons and that shouldn’t mean you can’t still get gorgeous newborn photos (if you keep scrolling you will see some wonderful examples with the ages of the babies included).

I get many clients who come to me when baby is over 4 weeks of age, and all the babies in this post are over 4 weeks of age and up to 19 weeks for one set of triplets who spent 15 weeks in NICU.

So what are the reasons for parents needing to come in later with baby?

Baby was born early and needs to be in NICU for a time – this is no issue at all, we will just schedule the time once baby is out of hospital. This is especially common with multiples and you will see multiples of varying ages in this blog post.
Asian and Indian families (and no doubt other cultures) have around four to five weeks at home being looked after by family members and not able to leave the home. I think this is an amazing tradition and so good for the parents so I’m very happy to schedule the shoot for when baby is 4-5 weeks old.
If my schedule is full and I’m unable to fit them in for a week or two. I have been so pleased when clients are more than happy to wait to get photos with me during my busy times. And I can still get brilliant results for them at any age.
I had one client who hadn’t been able to confirm the adoption of their baby so the photos took place at a later age and still worked out beautifully.
If I am sick I won’t photograph babies so I will reschedule any shoots until I am well, and sometimes this may be over that 10 day mark or later. Or the parents or baby maybe sick and unable to make the shoot when baby is under 10 days. None of this should be an issue as the health of baby is far more important than the age at which photos are taken.
I have to take some holidays throughout the year, especially around school holiday time. I do my best to fit clients in where I can but sometimes this does mean waiting a week or two to get in, in which case baby is a bit older.

And as a huge positive for photos of slightly older babies, you usually get lots of lovely eye open shots as well.

So please if you are considering having photos and worried about having to get them in those first 10 days please don’t fear. I am very skilled at posing babies of any age. Do I still recommend pre-booking before baby is born? Yes I do. The reason being is that the communication between us has started and you can feel free to get in touch anytime to let me know baby has arrived and we can book the session date. We might book the session date for when baby is 5 weeks old, but at least I know then to keep that date for you and you know you have a session date booked and sorted.

Here are some examples of babies over the 4 week mark.

Fifita, 4 weeks

Lucas, 6 weeks

Mila, 4 weeks

Harper and Kenzie, 4 weeks

Hannah, 4 weeks

Jack, 6 weeks

Cameron, Molly and Joshua, 19 weeks

Aiden, 11 weeks

Frederick, 7 weeks

Elliot, 5 weeks

Raghav, 5 weeks

Emma, 5 weeks

Isabella and Molly, 5 weeks

Addison, 4 weeks

Ashneel, 6 weeks

Gabriel, 7 weeks

Gracie, 5 weeks

Holly, Jack and Kate, 10 weeks

Sophie, 6 weeks

Zoe, 5 weeks

by Amy

Auckland Newborn Photographer – Mentoring Session

August 13, 2014

These photos were from a mentoring session with Natalie McDowell Photography in October of last year.

In the morning we used natural light and in the afternoon studio light. It reminded me so much of the frustration of natural light, and the consistency of studio light.

I still have a couple of spaces left for mentoring this year if anyone is keen to take their newborn photography to the next level. You can check out my website to find out more details, and read reviews of my mentoring on there.

http://amycope.co.nz/ForPhotographers

This is Elijah, he was 7 days for his session. His session was shot with natural light.

This is Beatrix, she was 7 days for her session, and this was studio light.

by Amy