Baby Gavin | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Just a quick scheduling note — my summer is all booked up and I’m currently taking sessions for September and later. If you want to get on my fall calendar, please contact me soon!

I have such a sweet baby boy that I get to share with you all today! Little Gavin came to see me for his newborn session in my Wake Forest, NC studio at a tiny 12 days old. He was just so handsome and sleepy and perfect! Snuggling him was so much fun. I swear I have the best job! I love the colors we used with Gavin — the dark blues and the creams and browns looked so good on him. And the close-up (macro) photo of the tiny bubbles on his lips — aaaaah! To die for! My other favorite is the one of him in the little blue pants. Loved him!!

If you want photos like this of your baby, please contact me! I’m taking bookings for maternity, newborn and Baby’s First Year sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact me early to reserve your space! I’m currently booking for September 2015 and later.

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Will’s Session Peek | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I’m enjoying posting my session sneak peeks here for everyone to see more clearly now! I had Will in my studio yesterday for his session. He arrived REALLY early and was in the hospital for one week after he was born. I got to meet him at 3 weeks old (and still well before his actual due date). He was amazing. I have about a hundred favorites from his session, but I’ve narrowed it down to two for a little “sneak peek” from his newborn session. This will have to hold everyone over until I finish editing and can share the rest!! So cute!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Teagan | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I have such a little sweetheart to share with you all today! Baby Teagan was born back in February to a wonderful family. I met them just about three years ago when I did Taylor’s (their first child’s), newborn portraits. Now Taylor has changed so much and has become such a sweet big brother to Teagan. We got some really adorable shots of the two of them together that I just love! Sibling shots are always some of my favorites. Little Teagan was 11 days old for her newborn photography session and was such a great baby! She is so adorable with a beautiful head of hair and sweet, delicate features. Towards the end of the session she became pretty wide awake while I was doing a prop shot of her, and she stuck her little tongue out at me. I think she was trying to tell me what she thought of me! I swear it was one of THE CUTEST pictures I’ve ever taken. I can’t help but smile every time I see it. She’s got such a great little personality! Here is a peek at her newborn photo session!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Violet’s Peek | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Well, since Facebook’s reach has declined so much lately, I figured I needed to get back to posting sneak peeks on my blog. The pictures look so much better here anyway, since Facebook compresses them and makes them look so funky. Last week I had the pleasure of having baby girl Violet in my studio, and we got soooo many adorable shots. Here’s a little peek at her newborn session. Lots more to be shared later!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Penelope | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I have such a precious baby girl to share with you all today. This is little Penelope, who was such a gorgeous newborn! We did her session at 18 days old, and she did just amazing! I swear I get the best babies in my studio. And the cutest, too! Penelope has an awesome big brother who came in for a few shots too. He was so fun to work with, and really got into snuggling and kissing his baby sister for the camera. We pulled out lots of pinks and creams for Penelope’s photo session, and I must say that the pink really suited her! We got such a great variety of shots — and at 18 days old!!! I never understand when I see other newborn photographers say they absolutely won’t take a baby older than 10 days, or 14 days. I think if you know how to work with newborns and are experienced in posing and soothing, then a 1-weeker is really the same as a 2 or 3-weeker. There’s not much difference from my experience… they’re still bendy and sleepy! Sometimes the 3-weekers are the best sleepers of all of them!

I had too many favorites from Penelope’s newborn session, so I just had to share a big chunk of them! Here she is, the absolutely precious baby Penelope! 🙂

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Emily | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I tell ya, I’m having quite the string of baby girls in the studio in 2015 and I’m really excited about it. Last year was definitely the year of the boys! It’s been so nice to change up the colors and props I’ve been using. Only another newborn photographer can understand the feeling of having a cute new girl hat, headband or various other prop that arrives in the mail and then just sits there unused for several sessions. It’s excruciating! 🙂 So with all these girls I’m finally getting to use lots of cute new props. So satisfying!

Baby Emily was my New Year’s baby and was the first newborn I photographed this year. She has got to be one of the most beautiful baby girls ever. Her hair is just to die for – a newborn photographer’s dream! And she had the perfect amount of squishiness. She was perfect and sleepy at 12 days new.

I get asked a TON what the perfect age is to photograph a newborn. Often my clients think they should get in for their session during baby’s first week. But actually I find them to be sleepier and more peaceful during their second week of life. If you pay attention to baby’s ages on my blog here, you’ll see I photograph most of them somewhere between 10 and 14 days old. There are several reasons for this, but the biggest one is that by this age, babies have had a chance to get into a good feeding routine (they’ve learned to take the bottle, and/or Mom’s milk has come in by then), so they’re typically less fussy and more sleepy. After having photographed newborns regularly for the past five years, plus having had three of my own, I can say this with confidence! My sessions go smoothly 100% of the time, and my galleries are filled with 100+ photos in a wide variety of poses for Mom and Dad to enjoy.

Enough jibber jabber. Here’s a peek at baby Emily’s session!! 🙂

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Spencer and Barrett | RALEIGH NEWBORN TWINS PHOTOGRAPHER

My oh my aren’t these newborn twins just the cutest?! These tiny guys are Spencer and Barrett, born back in November of last year. They visited me in my Wake Forest studio for their portraits at about 4 weeks old. They surprised their mommy and daddy and made quite an unexpected early entrance into the world. I’m sure it’s just the first of many surprises these boys will have for their parents over the years! And that’s coming from a mother of boys who has some experience under her belt! Little boys like to keep us on our toes! 🙂 I really love photographing twin newborns. Double the sweetness for sure!

If you want photos like this of your baby, please contact me! I’ve opened up bookings again for Baby’s First Year packages, and also still offer both maternity and newborn sessions in the Raleigh Durham Cary Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact me early to reserve your space!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Lliam | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Another sweet baby boy to share today! Newborn Lliam was born back in November, and he came into my studio in Wake Forest at an itty bitty ten days old. As you’ll see, he has a gorgeous older sister who is so good with him. I really enjoyed having this family come see me for their baby portraits. And I love the photos we got of sweet Lliam!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Clarkson at 7 Months! | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Well, my little guy has hit the big 7 months! He’s sitting up so well, and juuuuust on the verge of crawling. He wants to do it so badly, but the coordination is not quite there yet. 🙂 I’m betting it’s soon, which means I have a lot of work to do to baby-proof the house. There are legos, game pieces, and ALL sorts of little toys everywhere that will have to be stored away. So, I’m happy with him sitting nice and still for now!

I’ve been excited to share with everyone the new floors that I special-ordered for my studio. I special-ordered them straight from my handy husband, hehe. And he brought them to life. I really love them, and they’re exactly the “look” I want for my brand. I was happy to let Clarkson break them in for me.

Without further adieu, here is my happy little Clarkson!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

International Contest in Newborn Photography

Wow, I am so very thrilled and honored to share some great news!! A photo of one of my teeny tiny clients, baby Max, was selected in the 2014 Annual International Contest in Newborn Photography as an Honorable Mention! There were so many amazing newborn photos from all around the world entered into this contest held by Child Photo Competition, so it’s very exciting that my photo of sweet baby Max grabbed their attention. This is such an honor for me, and I’m so thankful to the judges!

Here is that photo of precious little Max with his wink and a smile! 🙂

And to view all of the other winners of the International Contest in Newborn Photography, please visit the Child Photo Competition site! There are some beautiful photos there!