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Class Introduction

Lesson 1 from: Bumps to Babies: Photographing Motherhood

Kelly Brown, Sue Bryce

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Lesson Info

1. Class Introduction

Next Lesson: Shoot: 4 Month Old

Lesson Info

Class Introduction

Hi everyone, I'm supervised and I'm a lamport photographer e I don't know where I come from anymore I think new zealand originally, but now I just kind of from everywhere I'm kelly three years ago so I was speaking at an event in the sunshine coast of australia and that's where I met kelly and she was a very talented photographer and I did some work with here in her business and I really have to say as somebody who's been through this journey off, coming to create a five and becoming a creative live instructor, that journey for me was probably one of the most prolific experiences in my career and to be able to watch somebody I know now experience that was so wonderful so I said to kelly before she did her newborn class, you have to understand that you have worked so hard to be who you are and now you get to give this to other people and it's such an incredible gift to stand here booth home minds from the baby it's such an incredible gift to be understand here he and deliver this worksh...

op and it's even better to do it with somebody that I know in love like kelly so I'm a huge talent and look at these images this is a baby's life from one month to twelve months you're going to see the life span of a child in the the first year, which we all know it's just the year when you fall so deeply in love with your children and my nieces and nephews that I remember the first year sometimes I want to freeze them in time like that, but just such a beautiful portrait photographer and today is about kelly shooting all of these babies, so I'm really just going to leave her to do what she does best and and I'll be back later this afternoon, and then I'm back tomorrow and the next day when you bring in the adults because I'm better with big people. So I make kelly I mean, kelly three years ago in now standing hand and with great pride, I get to stand with his thank you so much. So when I saw her three years ago, I was walking along a footpath at this big convention center, and I didn't know many people there and the friend that I had gone with was off doing something else, and I was on my own and on my phone to my husband and I'm walking along this footpath and I looked down at my feet when I walk, I don't know why, but I looked up and there was this woman walking towards me with the biggest smile on her face, and she looked right at me. Who's that don't know. So so I kept talking on the phone and kind of green back, and it wasn't until later that I heard her speak for the first time and she blew my mind. We don't do the same thing, but what she's put into her business and the outcome that she's achieved is something that I could have only dreamed over that time. So the next time I heard to speak, I'd send her an email and she's, like, sure, come up and introduce yourself to me at the next conference, and I went up and I knew she was so tired, but she still sat there and she listened to everything I said an interesting, but it was just sort of motivating, and, you know, for women in our business, we put so much hard work into it, and we put so much pressure on ourselves, and I mean, I've I don't do anything unless I'm going to do a one hundred ten percent. So when I saw her doing everything that I believed in I wanted to become that amazing photographer and an amazing businesswomen, and I knew that she was the person it was going to take me to that level, so I said, you need to come to my studio and help me because I need this big kick up the bum I can shoot, but everything else I was really struggling with and we kind of just had another standing of each other and she showed me everything she she's always been so open and giving, and I can't think her enough so to be standing here next to her it's pretty awesome it's like the best thing in the world, thank you. So I think we do have exactly the same business model. Um, kelly has a very distinct style and soda why we both specialize in a specific genre um, but we both shoot outside of al jonah and we're gonna teach you about then over the next three days because we look very like we're stuck in our own genres and we're not, but we're so well branded an heir own genre that that's how we attract clients of all genres so I can't wait to open that up to you because when you bring when you bring a family into the studio like if you take a newborn and a baby into the studio gave them to kelly but when you bring the family into the studio I've been there for twenty four years so I know how to market to their family, to the friends, to their children, to the next baby and two may I've seen multiple genres within that and so we do have a very similar business model with both very simple photographers we both should natural light we both work from home and we both have very strong business models, which is wonderful and oh my gosh hey, tissue but anyway I'm going to keep talking so so when kelly spinach today we're going to show you more about specific jonah but today's all about baby from syria to twelve, so I'm going to just show you this. This is kelly studio from home it's a small space in its natural light and it's a very beautiful space because I've been there to her home she's going to teach you about also having a studio at home with three children because I don't have three children and my studio so as you know in my studio is not for blank or beautiful blankets and pillows minds more like dresses and makeup, but her mind and no kid zone and whose is the kid's own also kelly wigs with children of your own children and so it's a really great way to see both about business models and how they operate yeah way before I go, I just would like to say one thing. A huge shoutout to karen. Nice. Karen nice is karen wilmore has been wilmore's wife you more? No being he's, a very prolific instructor here on creative live, always teaching and he's here for creative cloud this wake. Karen is a graphic designer. She is one of those graphic designers that designs what you want not what she wants and then gets funny about it. She works tirelessly. She'll work through the night because I wake up in the morning and they'll be designs in my email. And she has designed for you guys with this course a maternity posing manual, a family baby and toddle opposing manual. Today she has taken the pdf from twelve months of baby with all of the tips that kelly has written for a download for you so you can print it as a booklet. Kelly his pre shot a video which we're going to show you this afternoon, which is a bonus video download. I have pre shot a video of these beautiful girls. Here is a bonus download for you, and I'm not even going to tell you about that over one hundred template she's created for the marketing plans on day three, so I have to shout out to this girl she has worked so hard she's just a great little designer and she's done all of this view and big props karen nice and we'll put her link in check and posted online so that if anybody wants to reach out to her work for her work with her you can so I'm going to leave kelly to tell you the wrist and have an amazing day thank you I'll see you this afternoon just so you know if you saw that newborn workshop that kelly did which was phenomenal you know kelly weeks from a place of great calm which is why they won't allow me to be in the studio today I work in a place of great street so our opposites are quite significant when kelly did the newborn workshop people are writing to be going it's like she's your sister and I said to kelly the weird thing is that most people have never seen us without shoes on because kelly sick but why was she too tall sister on dh yeah so I'm going to clear out a little you come wonderful people bring these babies into the most beautiful portrait you have seen yeah wow so now I have to find that calm place um so I do I do market two newborn you know I'm market for newborn photography because I want babies in my studio and once I've got that newborn in my studio I can then go on to photograph it through the different stages of its life I don't I do advertise and I do post images of older babies occasionally but the majority of my work is newborns and it's not because you know I really want it that way but at the moment in my current life situation that's what fits best with may I can only work because I have three children in my studio like soo mention I can only work monday to friday and school hours so when people have older children it means that the dead's usually at work during the week or the mums if they work part time or something like that so they only really available on weekends and my time is very precious to me and I had to make a very big choice to say I'm not going to work weekends anymore my family means too much to me I had to go you know I love doing all these other genres of photography but I really want that time with my family because I want to see them grow up I want to be there when they play sport on a weekend and my husband works away so he's only home every second weekend when he's home he gets my one hundred and ten percent undivided attention it's just you know it's it's just choices that you have to make in your business that fit your lifestyle at that time so when I do do older babies they know I am the work monday to friday, so if they willing to come back that monday to friday, I will shoot him every month of the year because when they're changing so rapidly like that in that first twelve months, you know, you have to document it because it just goes too fast and it's such an important time in their lives when you're watching them grow into these little people and and it's so much fun. It's a really fun. So we have fourteen baby he's no, I think this fourteen because I have a set of twins so they would doing to do the twelve months, but I have an extra special little baby that's going to come on this afternoon. She's gonna be our last baby, but our our four month old baby no five month old anyway, we're gonna said twins coming in and they were actually our three day old twins that I shot in my first workshop. So they're going to come back, which is going to be great to see them because they came straight from the hospital for the last cost. Yeah, they had the little responds on and they they drove from there, and they're from one of them's from australia so it's really cool to see them again? Um, yeah, so babies one month um this little baby I actually photographed his birth as well so I have been able to document him um as he's growing up but you know, when you are photographing them at their different ages and they're, um they're developing so quickly they can do certain things so you, you know, like in the first month and all of this is gonna be for you to download. So all of this information, I'm not gonna stand here and read it all to you because you're gonna get it anyway, but it's important to know when you are working with them at their different development or age is that you understand where they're at and what they're capable off, so I, you know, I've I've had to explore into, like, when I create my environment for my newborn sessions, I understand the environment that they came from two to be able to replicate that in my studio, so when I'm working with them as they developing, I need to know what they're capable of, you know? So they're starting to look around more, they're staying awake longer, their little neck muscles are getting so much stronger and they're lifting and turning and things like that so we actually have a four week old baby outside, I'm going to photograph them very, very soon we wanted to do it in the months that they were turning so from one month through the twelve months but a couple of our babies couldn't come at the right time, so we're going to do in the first segment today a four week old and a four month old just to show you the difference there and then um yeah, so in one month I know that they're you know, they're starting to make noises is in there, they're staying awake a little bit longer during the day, they're not as flexible as what they are is a baby because like I mentioned in my first class, you know, they're born with so many more bones than we have now, and their bones are made of stuff college, so as they as they're getting older, they're bones are fusing together, they're getting stronger, they're not as flexible, they can't be wound up so tightly and all of that kind of stuff, so yeah, they're starting to focus with their eyes as well so you can get their attention if they're awake and then on to two months, then you beautiful s so this is when I mean all moms love around this age because they start to smile at them it's an incredible experience when your baby smiles at you for the first time so they want to capture that which is perfect for us um they don't sleep they have longer sleeps sorry but don't sleep as often during the day they stay awake a little bit more often their movements of jerky they're not you know they're not coordinated yet so their arms are still going out but they are getting more control of their muscles and things like that and they're able to grab hold of something and hold it um so I'm going to go through these really quickly because we're gonna I want to start shooting because that's what I love to do, um three month old babies, they're little twin boys and this is when they're really starting teo explore their body and go on, so obviously they're going to do more in the first few months and with development ill like development to philip ing, my mouth is so dry it's really hot in here? Um so yeah, because they were starting to do things like they're finding their hands, they're finding little parts of their bodies and trying to grab, and they tried to make noises and and communicate with you even more, which is awesome. So knowing all these little things help you understand how you can get their attention to look at the camera and how you're going to position them whether you're going to do it in a prop on a floor with something nice and soft underneath him or on a bean bag so understanding what they can do physically? Well, definitely, you know, help you decide how you are going to photograph them. Uh, four months. So this is a little format was it's not the baby that's coming in, but this is the age that we're gonna have, and she is just delightful. She's got a beautiful set from head of black hair. Um, and I got to meet there a little bit before she's gorgeous. So yeah, they really interested in everything that's going on around them and that's, you know, gonna be such an interesting thing today when we're working with these babies because there's so much going on in here, there's lights of so many people there's cameras, there's tvs and this it's pretty quiet but there's so much going on in here that they're going to be looking around and, you know, well, we'll see what we can do because normally in a studio it's may in them and their parents. So I have actually asked the mom and dad to sit quite closely with me and their baby because they start tio, you know, I get a little bit scared of where they're going new environments they need to have that security that they're there, I would normally have the parents helping me out in the studio anyway, so it's perfect for them to be able to come on set and be able to sit with their baby and enjoy the experience as well. And that way the baby will feel really comfortable um she's quite confident at laying on his stomach and lifting her head and we're going to do some of those and show you how she can hold up her head and things like that she's starting to roll around um and go from side to side as she explores and she can grab hold of things and also at four months my baby at four months studied two teeth they were drooling every way so it's always a good idea to have a box of tissues handy just digging to get that but you mean baby drools cute anyway, but yet they start to teach so they can become irritable and things like that and at five months they could be start to sitting out and they they needed someone next to them like with that little baby sitting in that bed the mum was right there so she had her hands on her baby and the minute I took took that shot she lifted her hands up and put a hand straight back down so he was spotted the whole time because he can't sit on his own, so if you are going to use props and things like that, it's make sure your mums and dads are right there with the baby because it's just they're too unpredictable with which way they're going to go war or if they're gonna fall and hurt themselves, especially on a prop that little have hard edges so yeah, they're making making what sounds, they're trying to communicate with you, they're strong enough to hold things and they just, you know, they're so excited teo to do anything at this age, they're just adorable, but again, they like to have that security of knowing that mom and dad are close by um definitely sitting out my first baby who's nearly ten, crawled at six months, I was devastated, she was into everything but so not all babies khun do that there are going to develop differently, but yeah, definitely, you know, starting to sit on their own at this age hey keep pointing at over there, but I don't need teo eso exploring even more giggling, you know, grabbing hold of things, playing with things there are there nice and strong, they can turn react to sound, they can, you know, follow objects there's vision is really good that, like, they're just they're adorable this age it's actually, probably the one ain't that gets me the most cocky when a six month old comes into the studio it's a seven month old everyone seen that shot so they can grab hold of their arms and like their feet, their toes, they giggle there, you know they can bring things up to their mouth, you know, they're very coordinated now and then you know, they rolling around, they might be studying tio, get up onto their hands and knees and and move around so I tend teo tend to when they are getting towards these ages off moving. I tend to sort of keep them fairly free in their space and if I am going to put them inside something, mom and dad is always there with their hands on them and really, really close, but anything that they're good at. So I talked to the mums and dads and say, what is their favorite toy? What is their favorite game? Do they have a favorite song this baby love to clap that's all she did, she clapped and it was so adorable I changed her into about four outfits and she claps through the whole thing. It was beautiful, like she was just the happiest little thing and that isn't that just adorable. So if a parent is going to bring you their baby and it can do something like that, they want to remember that for the rest of their life because she's going to stop clapping um, yes, so they're sitting really well then you know, they can start to move around, drag themselves along the ground. Some people call it the bottom of shuffle they can start to pull them up, pull themselves up into a standing position as well. So having things in your studio that they can't you like, if they're gonna try and pull himself up and they can fall backwards, it's, safety's always like first nature, so if I know I have a baby that age coming in, going to remove anything that could hurt itself on and only have stuff in the street and I'm going to use to shoot with, um I always and more separation anxiety, so having mom and dad close by and a part of it, and when it comes to getting their attention and getting them to look at the camera and get that connection with them, I try. I talked to the parents and I say to them like, you know, they need to have you there for that security issue, but I'm actually going to be the one that's getting their attention I'm going to be the one talking to them, getting there, you know, making the noises and all that because if I have a parent standing hand jumping up and down the baby's gonna look at them not the camera and I really want because it's the connection that you see in the eyes that is you know the parents just adore it so I am I talked to them about all of that so anything that makes a noise squeaks you know that they can shake anything like that I am I have that andy and I've asked all the parents today to bring with them their favorite toy because they're in a new environment it's something that's familiar to them there's some babies can get scared and and now because they've started taping at four months and we're getting to an eight month age they've probably got a couple of teeth and starting to tv even more so they can you know, have saul mouths they khun b um agitated they could be irritable and all of that and their attention span is quite short like they'll sit there imply for second but then they're up and they're gone um so understanding all of those things in talking to your parents as much as possible about their child and and where they're at and what they're capable off and then when they start to crawl they have, you know, trying to get under sit still is not easy, so when they are on the move and moving quickly, I said I'd talk to him and say right this is the area that we're going to shoot in when she crawls off, you know, if you could just sort of make a bit of a game out of picking around, I'm putting your back, and then we can get some really great expressions and things like that. So getting the parents involved with the games to photograph them while they moving is a lot of fun, but, yeah, you know, this starting teo to move faster, they could be starting to take steps at this age, but they will definitely be holding on to things to stand up onto, so if you're going to put them into props, make sure it's a really, really solid problem that they can hold the sides off to stand up with, um, and yet anything that makes a movement so they want to see how wheels move and their little fingers of studying toe point and touch things and it's really pretty to see so standing I had to contain the twins in the bucket because they were just con they wanted to get up and out, and I have found that when they first come in, it's best to start shooting as soon as possible because when they become comfortable in their environment, that's when they want to start to explore when this sort of sitting there to start with, they're just looking around and they're scoping everything out. But once they're comfortable, they're gone, they want to touch everything and it's really hard to do it. So as soon as they come into the studio when they're older and they can move, start shooting as quickly as you can, but even descending an e mail to your clients and saying, if, you know, you don't have the time to talk to them prior to the session starting talk to them about, you know, is there anything in particular that they love to do? Because I don't know how many of you have children, but when I'm with other mums, I love to talk about what my kids are doing, you know what they're capable of? It's it's, a really it's, a really big part of what we do when we're trying to give them what they want as as photographers, so they're they're personality is massive now they very sociable, but they still need the security of the parents close by, um, and yet starting to communicate as well with you so still on the move he was he was crawling, that he was getting to that point where he just wanted to get up and go, so he was up on his toes the whole time and and just wanted to move as quickly as possible, so they be standing. They can squat that khun stand up they may be taking steps and holding your hand and things like that they're very, very independent they want to do things now it their own they don't want anyone to help um um and yeah, they playing games and they can understand what you're telling them like simple instructions to know and yes and all that kind of stuff and then twelve months, they little twelve months old triplets that I photographed as newborns, so but they they were crawling and studying to take steps when I photograph them and they were the most adorable things, but this was the beginning of the session when they were very curious the minute they found themselves comfortable in my studio they were gone and one, two, three crawled right out the the door, and that is yeah, this going through each step and understanding what they capable off and having mom and dad nice and close by for security, it is really important when you're photographing them as they're older. My sessions for these months are very short because, you know, when they're when they're sitting, you can lay them down you khun sit them up, you khun do a few shots like that, but they become tired of the situation pretty quickly and because I want to try and document them as much as possible I create like a smaller session for these chutes too just a document their life through their first twelve months so I try to keep it as short as possible and get photos with the parents, which is what we're going to do tomorrow but today we're going to go over all the individual shots that I do of the children on their own through it these these ages oh yeah that's pretty much twelve months and we have babies from one to twelve months today and it's gonna be unpredictable they're going to be tears there's going to be accidents they're gonna be laughing and giggling and carrying on but it's what happens in every studio so we're not gonna we're not going to make it all perfect it's going to be real and it's gonna just be crazy for it for the next how many hours? I don't know I forgot it's afternoon is just gonna be go go go yeah, I'm excited we have two babies coming in and I've got a couple of things set up over in the studio so I'm ready to go I found out they both little girls so they've got cute little pants on and and yeah, I'm excited I'm so excited to be back here it's pretty intense well, we're pretty excited to have you back kelly for the probably who did not see the newborn workshop highly highly recommend maybe a break going over and checking out that horse paige because it was just magical truly magical we celebrated mother's day it was amazing it was pretty pretty awesome so I'm to be able to come back and do this again is thiss unbelievable it's phenomenal for me so I didn't mention in their premature but jeez I had premature twins that were born you know, thirty, thirty one and a half weeks so they were in hospital a lot longer but when they came home they still look like newborns but there were six weeks old and they weren't us flexible anymore diesel little babies here about four weeks old and they could still curl up nice and tight but they're not I'm not going to get all those you know really significant newborn poses like the bum up in the air one and the taco pose and all of those I'm just going to post them really simply together um to get beautiful shots and I'm not going to try and push him into anything that they're uncomfortable with. So when you are working with premature babies you know they are more familiar they adapt to their environment very quickly so they are more familiar with what is going on around them I'll get some premature babies into my studio that will sleep like newborns and they'll be easy to work with like newborns and then I'll get other premature babies in that you know not as flexible they're quite strong in their neck and their arms and their legs are bending them and curling them can be quite difficult but this is a shot that I did with the bonus video we had five week old twins come in and they were only a week adjusted so they were born four weeks early um the majority of premature babies that I get in my studio are twins I'm part of a multiple birth association so they have my details on file so I do get a lot of them I do get single babies as premature babies as well people that have booked me and then they're baby has come early and I'll have to photograph them so I do get quite a few premie babies and just understanding that you know they are more aware of the surroundings um when they coming into a new environment and they could stay awake longer they'll be eating more and all of those things just communicating with your clients and finding out exactly where they're at and what they're doing is really important and they're not super curly babies but they're just on this side within knees up in their arm out it's not a hard pose but there's just and they held together by a wrap so it looks a bit complex but then it's not a tight curly curly shot it just looks like it is because these two of them

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Keynote Slides Day 1
Baby Book Templates
Birth Announcements
Keynote Slides Day 2
Keynote Slides Day 3
Online Proofing Cards
Session Reminders
Baby Scrapbook JPEGS
Marketing Book
Scrapbook PSD Files
Font Guide for PSD Layers
Family Posing Guide
Maternity Posing Guide
9 Months In The Making
Photographing Motherhood Part 1.mp4
Photographing Motherhood Part 2.mp4
Photographing 5 Week Twins.mp4

Ratings and Reviews

Candice Tizzard
 

I love kelly, LOVE LOVE LOVE her. She is a wonderful photographer, so calm and patient. That is the style that I have when photographing. I liked Sue's portion, however, I did skip over most of it, because I found that she kept talking about the same things. Sue has a great personality bubbly and funny, she just over talked the some topics.

a Creativelive Student
 

i LOVE this workshop!Sue Bryce is AWESOME!! I'm enjoying learning how to pose the mum to make her look beautiful. and I want to specialise in maternity and newborns... Thank you soooo much! I'm learning so much.... Kylie, NSW Australia

tur.tatiana
 

I LOVE this workshop, it is absolutely amazing material and I enjoying watching it again and again! Every time I learn something new from it. And you can't imaging how thankful I am!! Sue and Kelly - your are the best in maternity and newborns!! Love you both so much!!!

Student Work

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