When should you photograph your baby? A guide to the first year

If you are wondering when the "right" time is to have photos taken of your baby, the slightly unhelpful answer is that there isn't one.

Newborns are beautiful because they're impossibly tiny and curled up. A few months later they're smiling at absolutely everything. Then they're sitting, grabbing their toes, growing teeth, crawling away from you and eventually standing there looking suspiciously like a small person.

Every stage gives you something completely different.

And that is probably the biggest thing I've learned from photographing babies for more than a decade. You don't necessarily need hundreds of photographs from one particular age. What becomes really special is having a handful of good ones from across that first year.

Because goodness, they change.

Do you need newborn photos?

Newborn photography gets a lot of attention, and understandably so. There is such a tiny window where your baby is genuinely new.

But if you missed it, please don't think you've missed your chance.

Some of my favourite baby portraits happen well after the newborn stage.

Traditional newborn sessions are often photographed within the first couple of weeks, particularly if you want those very sleepy, curled-up newborn photographs.

But there is no cliff edge where your baby suddenly becomes unphotographable on day 15.

An older newborn might be more alert. They may stretch out more. They might look straight at you. They might not sleep for the entire session.

That's not a problem. It's just a different chapter.

Around three to four months

This stage gets overlooked all the time.

Your baby isn't a sleepy newborn anymore, but they're probably not sitting independently yet either. It can feel like there isn't an obvious "milestone" worth photographing.

Except there is suddenly so much more personality.

They're making eye contact. Smiling properly. Recognising you. Holding their head up. Finding their hands. Doing that enormous open-mouth grin babies do when their whole body seems to be involved.

It is also one of those stages that tends to disappear from memory surprisingly quickly.

You remember the newborn. You remember the sitting baby.

The squishy little person in between can become a bit of a blur.

Sitting is one of my absolute favourites

If you only want to choose one stage between newborn and first birthday, I'd seriously consider the sitting stage.

Usually somewhere around six to nine months, babies suddenly have enough independence to show us who they are, while still being gloriously baby-ish.

They can sit and play. Grab their feet. Clap. Laugh. Inspect things. Give me deeply suspicious looks.

And importantly, they can't usually escape very quickly yet.

A photographer's dream. 😂

There is no need to wait until they're sitting perfectly. If they're nearly there, we can support them, photograph them on the floor, have a parent close by, or work with whatever they're doing at that point.

The milestone isn't the point.

Who they are at that age is.

Crawling changes everything

Once they're mobile, sessions get a little more chaotic.

I happen to think that's quite fun.

This is often when parents start worrying that their child won't "cooperate" for photos because they won't sit where they're put anymore.

They are correct.

They probably won't.

So we don't build the session around requiring them to.

A crawling baby disappearing out of frame, pulling themselves up on furniture, laughing at Mum, inspecting my studio or making a determined bid for freedom is giving me plenty to photograph.

You don't need a perfectly behaved baby.

You need a photographer who expects babies to behave like babies.

Around their first birthday

By twelve months, the tiny newborn you brought home has somehow developed opinions.

They may be crawling, walking, standing, chatting, pointing, dancing or refusing every single thing you had planned for them that day.

Perfect.

First birthday portraits don't have to mean an elaborate cake smash or a heavily themed setup unless that's your thing.

Sometimes the simplest photograph is the one you'll love most later.

Their little face.

The way they stand.

Those ridiculous baby curls.

The gap between their teeth.

Their current favourite expression.

All the things that seem completely ordinary because you see them every day.

Until one day you don't.

So how often should you photograph your baby?

There is absolutely no rule.

If you're building a record of their first year, though, I love having photographs at roughly:

• newborn
• three to four months
• sitting
• mobile
• around their first birthday

That doesn't mean you need five full professional photoshoots.

In fact, that's exactly why I created The Little Portrait Club.

I wanted families to be able to come back for short sessions as their children changed, rather than feeling like professional photography had to be a Big Event that happened once every few years.

Come in. Photograph what they're like right now. Choose your favourite. Add it to the collection.

Then come back when they've changed again.

Don't wait for the perfect milestone

This might be the most important bit.

Parents often tell me they'll book when their baby is sitting.

Or when the scratches on their face clear up.

Or when they've had a haircut.

Or when they're sleeping better.

Or when Mum feels more like herself.

And sometimes that makes complete sense.

But babies are particularly inconsiderate about waiting for us to feel ready before they grow.

You don't need to photograph every stage professionally. Your phone camera is going to do the heavy lifting of documenting everyday life, as it should.

Professional portraits do something slightly different.

They give you a few photographs where you aren't behind the camera, nothing else is competing for your attention, and someone has deliberately noticed the person your baby is becoming.

Those are the photographs that start to become incredibly interesting when you put them beside each other.

The first year as a collection

This is my favourite way to think about baby photography.

Not five separate photoshoots.

One collection, made slowly.

A newborn curled against Mum. A gummy grin a few months later. The sitting baby grabbing their toes. The crawler who absolutely will not stay in the chair. The one-year-old standing up and looking impossibly proud of themselves.

None of those photographs needs to carry the whole first year.

Together, they do.

That's the idea behind The Little Portrait Club at my Lincoln studio. Come back as they grow, and each session adds another chapter to their Little Growth Book.

Because you probably don't need hundreds of professional photographs of your baby.

You just need enough to remember all the little versions of them that came and went along the way.

Swipe through to see how much can change in twelve months.

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The Little Portrait Club is for babies, children and families who want to document childhood a little at a time. Short portrait sessions happen regularly at my Lincoln studio, with casual sessions from $34 or memberships from $29 per month.

Explore The Little Portrait Club →

Start their collection.

xx Tegan