Behind the scenes at a home newborn photo session | Alyona

I recently had the privilege of photographing some newborn pictures for a colleague of mine and her family. 

Alyona is a wonderful part of the South African Birth Photographers Association, branching into birth photography a few years ago. She featured in our video montage that we created during lockdown, which was great fun and a big hit with our audience! You can see some of her birth stories here.

Alyona was kind enough to let me document some behind-the-scenes action, while I took photos of their gorgeous newborn baby girl.

Here is what Alyona had to say:

“Long before I gave birth to my second child, I knew I'd want to have some fresh photos of the four of us, and although I knew it would be a busy time, I kept on dreaming about it. And I am so glad I did as it helped me remember to actually do it!  When my little daughter was born, I realised how little time I had to even think about family photos, and even less time to prepare for the photo session! Having a busy toddler and a tiny newborn in the house makes you feel very vulnerable about the mess in the house. It may also seem like your pregnancy glow was replaced with heavy bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep, and a few extra chins. But I am so grateful I made that call and invited Kristen! She made all of us feel so comfortable and easy, she didn't seem to notice the mess, and helped us relax and have fun. The session was much shorter than I expected (I dreaded a long session) and I am so grateful for that! It was a true mission to keep my busy toddler entertained and to behave, and photos were taken before things with my little boy got out of control. Now we are left with sweet memories of what we looked like when our daughter was so tiny and fresh!”