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How Your Health Affects Your Newborn Session

Lesson 3 from: Baby Safety and Posing for Newborn Photographers

Kelly Brown

How Your Health Affects Your Newborn Session

Lesson 3 from: Baby Safety and Posing for Newborn Photographers

Kelly Brown

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Lesson Info

3. How Your Health Affects Your Newborn Session

Lesson Info

How Your Health Affects Your Newborn Session

This is something not a lot of photographers are actually aware of. I used to be a wedding photographer a long time ago. I worked for a wedding photography studio and I always forgot to eat before I went to a wedding and they're long days. And then my husband realized that I wasn't eating and I would, he would call me or message me throughout the day, and he'd say like, "How are you going?" I was like, "I've been starving." So then every now and then when I'd open my camera bag when I had arrived at a wedding there'd be a bag of lollies, there'd be muesli bars in there that he would put in there because he knew I needed to refuel myself 'cause we're gonna lose energy. And you know what it's like half way through a day if you haven't eaten you feel like you're gonna pass out. So my session started 10 a.m., I'm not a big breakfast person. I don't enjoy eating breakfast first thing in the morning, I usually have it at about 10 o'clock in the morning when I don't have a session. But when m...

y clients come in I have to make sure that I have fueled my body because I'm going into a hot room. The temperature in there is about 82 degrees Fahrenheit, 28 degrees Celsius. It's hot in there. If we're in there from anywhere between two to four hours and I haven't eaten, I bend over to pick something up and I come up suddenly I'm gonna get dizzy. The potential to faint is actually quite hard, quite high, sorry. We have to be really aware of those things. You have to protect yourself and others because if I fell or if I like fumbled or I became dizzy or felt faint at any point and I'm carrying a baby, there are risks involved. So you have to make sure that you are hydrated and you stay hydrated throughout the entire session, having bottles of water there. You've got to make sure that you have eaten something. Doesn't have to be huge if you're not a big breakfast person but eat something. It's something that I wasn't aware of until a couple years ago and I'm really focused on that now, and I actually make a point of going into the kitchen and making myself something to eat before I go into the studio. Because there's nothing worse than coming out and going, oh my god, I'm still starving. The other thing you have to do is protect yourself and your clients in the form of knowing what type of immunizations you might need. I know that immunizations can be a little bit of a controversial topic. Some people believe in it, some people don't but what I'm gonna suggest is you speak to a medical practitioner about it. If you are working with newborn babies you have to know the potential risks that are involved and what we share. The whopping cough vaccination it needs to be, you have to have booster shots. I believe it's like every 10 years but recently I heard that it possibly could be five. But you do need to speak to a medical practitioner about that as to when you last had those. When you're a child, you're a newborn you have those different vaccinations at different stages. But getting that booster shot later on in life is really important because adults can spread that disease. You know, it is really serious. Just recently there's been an outbreak in Australia or in some parts of Australia where there's been like a 1600% increase in the amount of whooping cough cases reported. And I don't know if you've ever seen someone with whooping cough or a baby with whooping cough, it is heartbreaking. Heartbreaking for the baby, heartbreaking for the family and it's potentially deadly. So, talk to a medical practitioner, find out whether or not you are up to date with your vaccinations and if you have any concerns about immunization because there's a lot of information out there about it, and there are two sides to the story. So, I would definitely seek some actual advice. I am by no means qualified to give any medical advice but these are just concerns that you need to discuss with your medical practitioner, I think we just call them doctor. (laughs) But also in terms of the legal stuff that we're gonna talk about as well. I'm not qualified to give legal advice but I am aware of all the different legal areas that we have to have the correct advice on. Moving right along. We have a special guest that's going to join us this morning but Kenna's gonna, gonna-- Well, before we do that Yeah. I wanted to see if there were any questions sort of related to the medical topic that we just started to talk about. And a question came in from online. When you are getting over a cold how long would you generally wait before doing a session? Yeah. You know, it depends on the type of cold that you've got. There are different flus. You can have like a typical runny nose and the hay fevery type effects and things like that that aren't as serious as influenza. So, if you feel like you are very sick you need to go and have the certain test to know what type of flu that you have. A common cold is obviously not as dangerous but in terms of getting over them that can also like depending on the type of cold or flu that you have that can also depend on the length of recovery time as well. So, for me if I get sick and touch wood, we don't anytime in the next couple of weeks, it's a no-brainer. You don't come into contact with your clients. I actually have a term with my clients in my terms and conditions that if they are unwell or their children are unwell at any point they need to reschedule. Because if I've got a session the following day and they're coming in to my studio with a sick child, it might be a sick newborn but a lot of my clients have other children and there is nothing worse than trying to photograph a poor little toddler with a terrible cold or a blocked nose. And I've got three children, I know at that age they're going off to playgroups, they're going to the daycare centers things like that, they tend to get sick a lot in those first few years while they're building their immune system. And spreading that can be potentially very dangerous for my business because if I get sick I can't work. So if they come in with a sick child and then I get sick from that child then my family gets sick, it prolongs that recovery time. And then if I'm not aware that I'm sick and then the next day I've got another baby in my studio I have to make sure that it's sanitized properly so that we're not spreading any germs. You know, my mom has been sick for a long time and so we've learned a lot about different viruses, different bugs and bacteria and things like that and surfaces that need cleaning constantly like your door handles, like all your taps and your bathrooms and things like that, your keyboard on your laptop spreading those germs. We're not even aware that we're doing it because of all the surface that we're touching. But like if I've got some type of, I don't know, infection or bacteria on my hands and I touch something, it can be up to 24 hours before those germs actually are no longer a potential danger or a risk. Hi, Kelly. Hi. I have a quick question about the immunizations. So in my area it's kind of 50-50, people either believe in them or they don't. And oftentimes, I'm personally immunized, oftentimes the people who don't believe in them ask me and I've had people not hire me because they're worried about shedding or anything like that. So how do you deal with a situation like that? Yeah. It's gonna be different in different areas. Where I currently live immunization is, there's not many people that aren't immunizing their children. It's funny though like my father growing up in England they didn't immunize, they didn't believe in immunization. It is different in different areas. What I can recommend is just talking to your medical practitioner about those immunizations so that you are then gaining that information so that you can then share that information with your clients and recommend or suggest how things are gonna sort of go throughout the session, or whether or not they do employ you. I get asked a lot actually by potential clients when they're inquiring with me. We really like your work. Are you available, this is when we're due? Have you had your immunizations? Are you immunized? Do you have your booster shot for whooping cough? Because it is a big concern for some people and then other people probably aren't so aware of that. But in terms of advising your clients like if you're immunized and they're, 50% of your potential clients aren't then I suppose it's just the way that you communicate with them. And have a section in your website that sort of has an area of concern that your potential clients might have, and you can address some of those topics. But get the right information from your doctor so that you can then communicate that with your clients.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Baby Safety and Posing for Newborn Photographers Bonus Packet
Baby Safety and Posing Slides
Potato Sack and Frog Pose Editing Videos - Large 1.1 GB download

Ratings and Reviews

Lindsey Wall
 

Kelly Brown is one of my favorite teachers not just in newborn photography but photography and learning in general. Her patience is inspiring and she makes this job seem so much more enjoyable and installs passion in you to improve and be the best you can be! Kelly is an expert at what she does and is great at communicating how she does it. I have taken the Creative live baby bootcamp class which is actually what got me to want to go into newborn photography! Ive also purchased a few of her newborn posing courses and I love them all. I literally own my new blossoming little career to Kelly! I love creative live, I have just learned so much from these courses. They are constantly giving out new classes that are so affordable and such amazing resources for any photographer or professional. I am so lucky to have discovered them and Kelly Brown. Thank you Kelly and creative live!

Alice T.
 

This is an amazing class! Kelly Brown offers a wealth of information that is comprehensive and straightforward. She has such a soothing voice and such great patience that it translates into becoming a great presenter and instructor. Her methodology both in business and her art are sensible and desirable which has taken me up significantly. She has helped me in understanding this business and how to become successful while doing what I love in a profitable and safe manner for both my clients and myself!

TheColorDana
 

Kelly is such a fantastic instructor! This class is wonderful for both beginners & intermediate newborn photographers to improve their posing and keep safety number one. Not only does Kelly teach you step by step how to safely pose, she also explains why she poses the way she does - which is so important. This class is a great resource to watch over and over again until we are all masters!

Student Work

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