Technique
What’sthe
differencebetween
babyandnewborn
photography?
Plenty,says leading
practitioner
KristinaMack
whosharesa few
of hertradesecrets
Baby
Picturesofthebaby
withmumanddad
areusuallydone
attheendof
thesessionlove
T
en years ago few considered
newborn babies to be a major
genre for photographers. Blotchy
and wrinkled, they spend most
of their time curled up asleep. Better to
wait till they’re old enough to sit up and
smile. But then, along came Instagram
and celebrity photoshoots. Described
by Vogue as a ‘distinctly millennial
phenomenon’, newborn photography is a
fast-growing fi eld which photographers
with their fi ngers on the pulse of social
trends have been quick to capitalise on.
Kristina Mack of Essex-based Tiny
Posers is one of those photographers. As
well as running her own successful
photo studio, she also holds workshops
around the country for other aspiring
newborn and maternity photographers,
at which Kristina explains to her students
the various ways in which newborn
photography diff ers.34
ALL PICTURES © KRISTINA MACK. MODEL: EVIE DEANE BL AKEY
‘The fi rst thing is that timing is very
important with newborns,’ explains
Kristina, ‘because they lose that womb-
like curve after two weeks or so. Also they
sleep a lot deeper in the fi rst couple of
weeks after birth, after which they become
a lot more alert, which makes them more
diffi cult to photograph. So I tend to
schedule my newborn shoots for around
7-10 days after birth. That’s the best time.’
It may seem counter-intuitive to want
the baby to be asleep, but in this genre it is
fundamental. You don’t really pose older
children and adults; you direct them. But
with newborns you literally mould them
into the poses. You can’t just lay them
down and get good pictures. A soundly
sleeping baby can be moulded into a
repertoire of poses while maintaining
an expression of blissful contentment.
‘If a newborn baby is awake, then it’s
seldom a happy baby,’ continues Kristina.