You've just had a baby. Your house is upside down, you're running on about four hours of broken sleep, and you're wondering whether booking a photoshoot was an act of extreme optimism.

It wasn't. And I want to tell you exactly what's going to happen, so the answer to "how will this actually work" isn't a mystery.

Your whole family is in these photos

The first thing I want you to know: I don't just photograph the baby.

A newborn session with me means the whole family. You, your partner, any older siblings, the grandparents if they're around. Because here's the thing nobody tells you. When you look back at your newborn photos in ten years, you won't just want to see how tiny your baby was. You'll want to see how young you were. How tired you were. How completely in love you looked.

Those photos won't exist unless somebody takes them.

So yes, you'll be in the pictures. That's not an add-on, that's the point. And no, you don't need to have washed your hair. Some of my favourite newborn photos I've ever taken are of a mum in her pajamas, totally relaxed and just so smitten with her baby.

We take our time. Properly.

A newborn session is not a forty-five-minute appointment you squeeze between feeds.

I block out enough time, and I mean properly enough. A newborn needs to feed. A newborn needs changing, sometimes twice. A newborn will decide, halfway through the most beautiful moment of the day, that actually what they'd like to do now is scream.

That is not a disaster. That's a newborn.

So we build it into the session. If your baby needs to feed, we stop and you feed them. If they need a change, we change them. If they need twenty minutes of being walked around the room and shushed, we do exactly that, and I'll be reassuring you that you're doing a great job, telling you stories of my newborn who slept and screamed.

Nothing about the session is rushed, because rushed newborn photos look exactly like rushed newborn photos. The calm is part of the job.

The tiny details

While we're waiting, I'm working.

I photograph the details that you will absolutely forget. The ridiculously small fingernails. The flaky little feet. The incredibly soft patch behind the ear. The way their whole hand fits around one of your fingers, which is a trick they will stop being able to do within about six weeks.

These are the photos that make you feel what it was like in this season, that pull you back to this moment. Not the posed ones. The ones where you can see the exact size of a newborn's toes next to their dad's thumb.

I will marvel at your baby (and tell you something you don't want to hear)

I will soak in your baby with you and genuinely marvel at them. Every single time. I've photographed a lot of newborns and I have never once stopped being amazed that a person can arrive that small and that perfect.

And while I'm marvelling, I will probably tell you something you'd rather not hear.

They grow so quickly.

I know. You've heard it forty times since you gave birth, and every person who says it seems to want to hand you a countdown you didn't ask for. But I'm saying it as the person who's about to make you a record of this exact week.

They will never again be this small. Not even tomorrow. That's not a reason to panic. It's a reason to let me press the shutter.

Indoor sessions

Most newborn sessions happen indoors.

We'll use your home. A couch near the window, the bed, a soft rug, the nursery you spent months getting ready. The light in your own living room is usually better than you think, and you are calmest somewhere familiar.

If you'd rather not have your house photographed, that's completely fine. I'll find the corner with the best light and we'll work around the reality of this time. You might have burp cloths or clothes or washing everywhere. You never have to stress about a clean house before I come, your house doesn't need to be perfect to be useable.

Outdoor sessions

I also do outdoor newborn sessions, and they're beautiful in a completely different way.

Think soft evening light, you wrapped in a cardigan, your baby in your arms in the garden or a quiet local park in Rouse Hill. Less about the styling, more about the feeling.

These work best from about the four to six week mark, when your baby is a little more settled and the weather is kind. If you've got a garden you love, or a spot nearby that means something to you, let's use it.

Fresh 48: I'll come to the hospital

This is my favourite thing to offer, and it's the one people don't know to ask for.

A Fresh 48 session is a photoshoot in the first 48 hours after birth, usually in your hospital room. It's documentary style, so there's no posing and no fuss. It's just what's actually happening: your baby's first hours, the first time you held them, the first time your older child met their sibling, the little hospital bracelet on their ankle.

Nothing in the world looks like those photos. Everyone in them is brand new at being this version of themselves.

If you want a Fresh 48, let me know as soon as you know, because it's a session I need to be able to move fast on. Babies don't schedule themselves around my calendar.

I bring the outfits and the safe spots

You will not need to go shopping for a single thing.

I bring the outfits. Soft wraps, little knits, neutral colours that will still look lovely on your wall in fifteen years. If you have something special, a blanket from your own babyhood or something a grandparent knitted, definitely bring it and we'll use it.

And I bring the safe spots; a comfortable posing lounger, with your baby always watched and checked on.

Your baby's safety is not negotiable. It's the thing I'm thinking about while I'm also thinking about the light.

When to book

Ideally, while you're still pregnant. Mention it at your maternity session, or send me a message around 20 weeks.

The reason is simple. Newborn sessions happen in a specific window, generally in the first two weeks, and they're booked by date of birth, which means I'm holding space rather than holding a fixed appointment. If you've already had your baby and you're reading this in a panic at day nine, message me anyway. I can always fit you in, newborn or a few months old, these little details are worth preserving.

Come as you are

Messy hair, no makeup, a baby in a nappy and a mum who hasn't finished a hot drink in a week.

That is not a problem to be solved. That's the actual thing. It's what you'll want to remember.