So two friends, one of whom is a longtime client, had babies due in June, and I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to do newborn shoots. I didn’t think I’d actually have a blog entitled “Alexandria Newborn Photographer” up this year, and I was worried about giving these weak immune systems covid.
Even with people I knew well, I was completely honest about how I was changing my newborn sessions in order to keep the family safe. Obviously, I was wearing a mask. I did not touch the baby at all, and I kept my distance as much as possible. Can I tell you how hard it was during Liam session to ask people to move his wrap or positioning? But it was what needed to be done to keep him and his family safe.
I also prepped my parents with videos on how to wrap babies, encouraging them to use their own wraps, furs, and blankets. I had mine cleaned prior to the visit, but it was one more precaution to keeping the baby safe. I know there are plenty of newborn photographers doing studio shoots and traditional in-home sessions where they touch the baby, but I’m not comfortable with that. I could NEVER forgive myself if something happened to a baby because of me.
I’ll be honest. I was really nervous about Liam’s session. We did a front porch mini/maternity shoot that turned out to be gorgeous, but my comfort zone then and now isn’t 100% comfortable being inside anywhere outside of my home. I also made sure my friends knew how conservative my family and I were being because of the pandemic. We haven’t traveled. The kids haven’t seen friends. We had been working from home. I only left the house for photos… until early August, I hadn’t been grocery shopping for my family.
Being an Alexandria newborn photographer (or photographer in any other part of the DMV) is something I wanted to cautiously step back into, and it had to be the right family to get me to do it.
That said, I hope you LOVE Liam’s session. His nursery is full of adorable, thoughtful details. He was a champ, sleeping for most of his session. His sister loved the attention when he needed to nurse. I LOVE documenting this family… you’ll see them all over my blog. I’m glad they trusted me to document this for them!
While my September and October are booked for lifestyle and newborn sessions, I have some openings still for my Christmas minis at the tree farm in Friendship, Maryland on October 3! More details are here on my Facebook page. You can also e-mail me through my contact page or at teresa@tcjdesign.com to book a session.
