I want to talk about a little bit about why I got into newborn photography. I started my business after my first baby was born, and she's nearly 10. So it's a long time ago. This is a picture I took nearly seven years ago and that is my husband and seven week old twins. And they were seven weeks old in this picture because they were born just after 31 weeks and had to stay in hospital for six and a half weeks. So I think it was at that point of spending all that time in a special care ward at a hospital surrounded by babies, I feel in love with watching them sleep, watching them breathe, watching them move, everything they do. And I learned so much about babies and the environment that they come from, which is really important. So that is were my passion, my absolute passion for newborn photography came. I actually photographed newborns before this image because I had worked in the wedding area and I had worked in the family portrait area and my clients were having babies and coming to...

me and I was petrified. I got really excited before a newborn session, but I was absolutely petrified because I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand babies. I didn't know what they needed and I didn't know how to make the environment that was good for a session. So I needed to learn it and I was lucky enough to attend a workshop from an amazing American photographer who came to Australia and I learned a lot. Yeah, so that's where I started out. It's been an amazing ride ever since and I love it. So three years ago I decided to go into newborns full-time and it really suited my lifestyle. I have, can I mention I have kids. So my oldest is nearly 10 and the twins are nearly seven. So they're at school and I have a husband who, I wouldn't be a photographer without him. He's pretty much the one person that pushed me into it probably because I was developing roll after roll of film and only getting one or two pictures in focus. He was like, you need to study. You need to go and learn how to use that camera properly. So that's why I started my business. I started taking photos and every photo I wanted to improve and improve and just get better and better. I owe it all to him, which is pretty awesome, But he works away. He's only home every second weekend, so I can't work weekends anymore. I can't do weddings. I can't do family portraits because he's not there, and I have three pretty amazing reasons to want to be home on a weekend and spend time with them. So babies is where it comes into. Dads take two weeks off usually from work after their baby's born to spend time with the mom and their brand new baby. So they can come to my studio Monday to Friday between school hours. So it works perfectly for me. I start about 9:00 in the morning after I drop my kids off at school and my sessions start at 10: and them I'm done by 2:00 at the latest and my day's over. My kids come home from school. They have my undivided attention and then when they go to bed at night I edit because my husband's not home and then on the weekend I'm theirs. When my husband's home, we do everything together so it fits my lifestyle perfectly and it's just the best thing in the world to be able to have a home environment and a good balance between that and my business and still do really well. So I am proud to say I am a mom with a camera. (laughing) And I do pretty well, so this is where I got into newborn photography. So I put this up here because there are 370,000 babies born everyday worldwide and it grows everyday. So there are more than enough babies for everybody to go around. Everybody has babies. Your wedding clients have babies. Your family portrait clients will eventually have more babies if they haven't taken precautions. (laughing) So it's a good area to be in but to know how to do it correctly and safely and offer our clients something that they want is really cool and it's the most rewarding thing to see the look on your client's face when they finally see their images when there finished. So it's a popular area of photography and there's a lot of people wanting to do it and I think that's amazing because to work with these little people is so special. Anyway, so I was going to talk about wanting to come to CreativeLive but I've already done that. It's the best place in the world. I've watched so many amazing photographers on here. Sue Bryce from Australia is a dear friend of mine so it's pretty cool to have watched her and just been in absolute awe of everything she's done on here and especially for the photography industry and to be sitting here today, it's quite surreal. I am very grateful. So every parent that comes into our studio with their baby they're not looking for the most elaborate setup. I do some pretty elaborate setups, but that's not every setup from every session. They want to remember what their baby looks like at that point in time and they want it captured. They want to capture the moment. They want to capture the emotion and the connection that they have with their baby at that time. So that's what we are employed to do. Not put them into dangerous positions. Not put them into breakable objects or not put them at risk just for the sake of us to get that shot. So I want to show, over the next three days, with 17 babies that are coming in to be photographed, which is pretty exciting. It's a record for me and it will be 20, including the three we did yesterday. I want to share with you how easy it is to create a simple, beautiful portrait that your clients are going to love and they're going to want to put on their wall big, which is really cool. So I just want to say last year in 2012 I photographed 100 babies in my studio. I also, even though I do specialize in newborn photography, I actually have a couple of commercial clients that I do some work for, which is really awesome. So that's something else I do on the side, but babies is number one in my studio so 100 babies. And my average sales are $1,100, well for 2012 they were. So that was my average sale and I don't have a lot of overheads, which is amazing for my business. And I reckon it's not bad for a mom with a camera who works Monday to Friday. I did all right last year. This year I'm going to take it another step higher and I'm really excited about what's going to happen. I've changed the way that I offer my products and my pricing and I'm going to share all of that with you on day two I think that is. But, today, we're going to cover posing in a bag, in the next segment on my bean bags, which I've brought. I've brought so much stuff from home and I've had so many amazing props and things for us to use brought in by people that work at CreativeLive and some amazing donations and props been given to us by some pretty cool people out there. So I'm excited to use those.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Newborn Posing Guide

Pricing Guide

Tips For Putting Baby To Sleep

Composite Shoot: Posing Bag

Composite Shoot: Cocoon

Composite Shoot: Basket with Sibling

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Kelly Brown

<p>Kelly Brown is a portrait photographer, specializing in newborn and baby portraiture. Her nurturing desire to capture her family as it grows led to launching her business Little Pieces of Photography in 2005.</p>

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topics covered in this class

Newborn Photography Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

TheColorDana

I have been a photographer for years and just recently decided to transition into the realm of newborns. Safety was my number one concern before learning all the other important details and Kelly does an amazing job teaching safety and comfort while also going into the best ways to get the perfect shot. I have taken away so much knowledge and she explains it in such a fantastic, comfortable manner, I urge anyone looking to begin newborn photography to purchase this class. Completely worth the investment, I will go back and rewatch again and again while continuing to learn and grow. Thank you Kelly and CreativeLive.

a Creativelive Student

I am so amazed. I am a newborn photography vendor and a brand new photographer. Right now I am doing photography for fun. I wanted to learn all the in's and out's of Newborn Photography before I went and charged people. I want to be the best at what I do first. Also, wanted to know what actually goes into a quality session. Especially as a vendor point of view we don't necessarily know what goes into everything, and how our props are used. I have to say I have learned so much already. And I have only watched Day 1 of my purchased course. Worth every single penny. Kelly and Creative Live thank you for making it affordable to learn. I have been following Kelly's Photography page on FB for quite some time now. It is amazing how passionate she is, and how that passion spreads through out her course. I wish one day I can attend a live workshop in the future. I would purchase every one of her workshops. I have learned everything I need to know to get started, marketing, editing, planning....

a Creativelive Student

My first granddaughter is going to be born in Aug and so looking forward to trying all of these great and wonderful ideas. Who knows..this might be the beginning of a new career...since I do boudoir now. Thanks Kelly...you were wonderful! ps..thanks for sharing your Mother's day with us and sharing that beautiful family. Best wishes and Thank you again.

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