BLOG

One of the many reasons I love my work as a newborn and family photographer in Stockport, Cheshire is the satisfaction I get from helping my clients to document their special family moments and milestones.

During the newborn stage parents are so often told to cherish the time they have whilst their baby is teeny tiny sleeping, all curled up as if they are still in the womb because they will change so rapidly from that moment on. This is why so many people book in for a newborn photography session in the first place. Parents want to capture those very precious first days in their baby’s life and have a lasting memory to cherish.  

When a family then books back in with me to have a Cake Smash session to celebrate their baby turning 1 I am genuinely delighted at the prospect of seeing how the newborn has transformed into an amazing bundle of fun, bursting with life and personality.  However, for this particular shoot documented on the blog…..the bundle of fun was my very own….

Looking at her newborn photograph above I can barely recognise her. Although I have spent every single day with her since she was born I can’t quite believe the transformation myself. Looking at her I burst with pride that she is mine, yet there is something so bittersweet about that 1st Birthday! Is it the thought that we will never get our teeny baby back that once curled up in our arms, but now struggles out of our grasp to go and explore. Or that we will rarely get to hold them tight in the wee hours of the night, cradling them back to sleep with that milky smell lingering on their tiny breath?? Those moments that remind you how utterly dependent they are on you for everything. I feel sad, I feel nostalgic. Where has the time gone? Why has it gone so so fast? I then have to remind myself that I have these pictures though. I may have been exhausted and in a lot of pain when taking them, but I am so glad I did because in this picture she will forever be only a few days old….and with the chunkiest of arms I have ever seen on a newborn in my studio!!

Less of the soppy stuff I hear you say!!

Okay so to celebrate this one turning 1 I thought I had best arrange her a Cake Smash session of her own! Many of my friends have made their child’s first birthday cakes and although I respect them for that I am more of a Colin the Caterpillar from Marks and Spencer’s kind-of-mum. However…for the purpose of this Cake Smash I figured I wanted something very simple, so decided that I would make the cake myself! You may well think this sounds like a recipe for disaster…well you would be right and in fact it was! My first attempt ended horribly! In my head logic was that given the cake was for a photography session it was all about the ‘look’ and not so much the taste. So the fact that I had no self-raising flour didn’t pose a problem, I would just chuck a load of extra baking powder in to make do! Even if it meant it wasn’t as tasty, she would surely eat some anyway and I could snap away with the camera happily. Major error! Cake basically exploded and tasted horrendous so had to be binned! 
Attempt two seemed to be going better, I had learned from my previous mistake and stuck strictly to the recipe. Cake came out of the oven looking very normal so I decided to turn it upside down on a cake stand to cool down before icing. 15 minutes later…Chris happened to point out that the inside of the cake had now emptied itself onto the kitchen surface! To cut a long story short I scooped it back up, put it back in the oven and saved the day and although not as professional looking as I may have liked, I think the cake did the trick and suited the set-up perfectly! This was her first taste of cake (as far as I know…her grandad may know better) and she actually loved it although was a very clean eater which made clearing up a doddle!! Good girl!

So please have a look at my little Lara’s 1st Cake Smash and admire those perfect baby thighs xxxxxxx

I loved photographing this beautiful little baby boy. It was especially lovely as he belonged to one of our wedding couples from back in 2014. Sebastian was baby number 2 of the Rodda clan and is every bit as beautiful as his older brother.

I just love how every newborn photography shoot captures each baby in their own unique and special way. Before Sebastian arrived to the studio, Mummy told me that he was a super-duper sleeper. He hated however having to be stripped down to his nappy in the studio…he much preferred being wrapped up in his blanket!

Sebastian was 14 days old when he came to visit us. Newborn photography or baby photography shoots need to take place in the first 5-10 days ideally after baby is born. This just ensures that baby is sleepy throughout and will be happy enough to pose in a bucket or two!! 

We are based in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport but have parents travelling from Poynton, Bramhall and all parts of Cheshire. We’ve even had a few recently from as far as Bury and Oldham. If you would like to enquire about newborn photography or baby shoots then please drop us a line at:

nchopesphotography@outlook.com

But for now…take a look at the super-cute Sebastian!!

Having the opportunity to meet such wonderful families is one of the best parts of being a Family Photographer. Capturing special moments for Mum and Dad that will last a lifetime in a picture is an amazing feeling and privilege for us. 

This summer (it’s been a while since I blogged properly) we have had numerous newborns in the studio for sessions. I must admit I am now exceptionally broody as a result of this! Here are a few photographs we would like to share with you to illustrate how lucky we are to be Family and Newborn photographers!

Baby Oliver was such a beautiful newborn baby. As the third child of the family he had two proud big sisters wanting to make a big fuss of him, and of course have their photograph taken with him! On the morning of the photo shoot I assumed that Oliver and his family may run a bit late. After all… there were 2 sisters to get ready for school and a brand new baby to get out of the house all for half past 9! Impossible task, right? Apparently not! Baby Oliver and his family who are also Cheadle based arrived promptly and all with big smiles on their faces! Baby Oliver had even been fed! How can this be I wondered??….I struggle to get just one child out of the house and to school in time! #superparents 

Baby photography, particularly newborn photography is a really important part of capturing and treasuring those precious moments when your new baby is at it’s smallest and curliest.  In the first few weeks new babies change so much that they are almost unrecognisable a month later. I always ask my clients to send me a snapshot of their baby once they receive their edited galleries and I am always stunned by the change. As a parent myself I remember looking at my son when he was days old and thinking ‘please stay this small forever’.  However, despite looking a lot bigger now, baby Oliver is just as beautiful. 

Please have a look through some of the images of his gallery, including the first photograph above where Oliver is lay in the belly cast I took of his mummy’s tummy 2 weeks beforehand.