How do you include your children in a maternity photoshoot?

Your children are included with the Comfort and Premium experiences, so the first part of including them is choosing one of those two. After that it becomes a question of timing. They arrive for the part of the session they are actually in, and I photograph them while their attention is still fresh.

You are not asked to manage a child while you are being photographed, and no child is asked to perform.

Which sessions include them

The Light experience at $1,099 is for you alone; partner and children are not included in it. Comfort at $1,499 and Premium at $1,799 both include your partner and your children, and both leave room for a set of photographs that are only of you before anyone else steps in. Tell me at the time of booking who is coming, and the order of the session is planned around them.

When they should arrive

I ask that children arrive after your first looks are finished. The photographs of you alone are the ones that carry the pregnancy, and they deserve you at your freshest. A child who has waited through wardrobe and the first half of a session has already spent everything they had before the camera turns toward them. If hair and makeup is part of your day, the children are placed after that is complete. Someone you trust brings them, stays with them, and takes them home when their part is over.

What to expect at each age

• Under two: photographed mostly in arms, and the frames that work are usually the first few.
• Two to four: expect one good idea and then a change of subject. This is the age that gives you the honest photographs, the hand on the belly, the head leaning in.
• Five to nine: direction lands well, and most children this age enjoy being given something specific to do.
• Ten and older: less instruction, more room. They are self-conscious rather than restless, which the private studio helps with, because there is no audience.

None of this is a rule about your child in particular. It is simply what I plan for before I have met them.

Direction in whatever amount a child accepts

Every session here is fully guided. I direct posture, hand placement, chin and expression throughout, and that direction extends to your children in whatever amount each one will take. Some want to be told exactly where to stand. Some will do the opposite of anything asked. Both are workable. With a child who refuses instruction, I stop instructing and start watching, and I photograph what happens between you rather than what I arranged. That is usually the frame you keep.

Working around them, not against them

The moment a session turns into a negotiation with a three-year-old, the photographs stop being good. So I plan for interruption rather than hope it does not arrive. We take the family frames early in their portion, while the room is still new to them. If a child needs to step out, we return to photographs of you alone and come back afterwards. Let them explore the studio before we begin. Nothing is lost to a child who needs a moment.

One practical note: the studio wardrobe is for you. What your children wear comes from home, and it is worth settling in advance rather than on the morning.

What the whole family should wear for maternity photos