You are going to photograph everything.

The first time they're placed on your chest. The tiny curled-up fists. The way they smell like something you can't name but you know you'll never forget. You're going to take a thousand pictures in the first week alone.

And almost none of them will have you in them.

Not because you forgot. Because you're the one holding the phone.

You're the one in it -- in the fog and the love and the 3am and all of it -- and nobody is catching that. Nobody is catching you in this season.

That's what I keep seeing, session after session, home after home. And it's why I feel like I need to say this out loud.

What Your Camera Roll Actually Looks Like

Here's what I know about your camera roll right now, or what it's going to look like in a few weeks.

Photos of baby with your partner. Photos of baby with grandparents. Photos of baby solo, in the bassinet, in the wrap, in that little hospital hat you're definitely keeping forever. Photos of the dog sniffing the baby with a very suspicious expression.

Photos of everyone with the baby.

Almost none of you.

And I get it -- I really do. I lived this. My friend Jenn came and photographed us in those early days with both of my kids, and I am endlessly grateful that she did. Because when I look back at those photos now, I don't just see my babies. I see me -- the version of me who was holding them for the first time, exhausted and overwhelmed and more in love than I knew how to handle.

Those photos exist because someone showed up specifically to get them.

Otherwise, I would have been behind the phone. Like always.

The Truth About the Newborn Window

Here's the other thing I want you to know: this season has a timeline.

The newborn window is two weeks. Maybe three. The way your baby curls up on your chest like they're still trying to take up as little space as possible -- that changes. The way they fit in the crook of one arm -- that changes. The way they sleep through literally anything -- that changes fast.

I've been a newborn photographer in Seattle for nearly 15 years. I've been in over 200 Seattle living rooms in the first three weeks of a baby's life. I know what changes, and I know how quickly it happens.

I also know that by the time most parents think to photograph those things, they're already gone.

This is not meant to stress you out. This is meant to give you the information that nobody tells you early enough.

Why In-Home Newborn Photography Is Different

When I show up to your home for a newborn session, I'm not bringing a studio backdrop and a beanbag. I'm bringing myself, my camera, and fifteen years of knowing how to find the light in your messy Seattle living room.

No forced posing. No matching outfits required. No giant setup you have to make space for.

Just your home, your people, and someone who knows how to find the beautiful thing that's already there.

The session follows your baby. We feed when they need to feed. We pause when they need to pause. I work around your postpartum reality -- not the other way around. And the whole time, I'm looking for you. The way you look at them. The way they fit on your chest. The things that are already starting to change before you think to photograph them.

I hear a lot from moms who were nervous about being photographed in those early days. Postpartum body. No sleep. House that looks like a tornado came through. And what I hear from those same moms, after they see their gallery, is some version of the same thing every time: I'm so glad I did it.

Because those photos aren't about perfect. They're about real. And real is exactly what you're going to want to remember.

You're Not Missing Photos of Your Kids

This is the part I really want you to sit with.

You have thousands of photos of your baby. You are going to have thousands more. You are not going to run out of photos of your baby.

What you don't have -- what almost no parent has, unless someone specifically shows up to get them -- is photos of you with your baby. In this season. The way your family actually looks and feels right now.

Your kids are going to grow up and want to see you in the photos. Not just themselves. You.

I say this as a mom of two, not just as a photographer. The photos I cherish most from my own kids' early days are the ones where I can see my face. Where I can remember exactly how that moment felt. Where I can see myself in the middle of something that went by way too fast.

You deserve to be in the photos. Not someday. Now.

Book Before Baby Arrives

The one piece of practical advice I give every expecting parent who finds me: book before your due date.

Newborn sessions happen in the first three weeks of life. The ones that feel the most natural, the most relaxed, the most like this season -- those happen in the first two. That means by the time your baby arrives, you want to already have a photographer on your calendar.

I'm a Seattle-based newborn photographer serving families across the city -- Ballard, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Fremont, Magnolia, and beyond. My calendar fills early, especially for spring and fall due dates. If you're in your second trimester right now, this is the time to reach out.

Your camera roll is going to be full. Make sure it has you in it.

Ready to chat? Check my availability here!