The Importance of a Little Sitter session and why I'm gifting a session to all my Newborn Client
I first met Rosalie when she was just days old and she came to see me for her Newborn session. After the session as she and her Mummy were leaving, we talked about the probability of her coming back to the studio at around the six month mark for a Little Sitter session. And my eyes lit up! Six months is absolutely my favourite age to photograph yet I've found that very few clients tend to come back for a Little Sitter shoot. A large majority of my clients have already decided by the end of their Newborn shoot that they will be back in a year's time for a Smash 'n' Splash as their baby turns One. Now don't get me wrong, I adore a Cake Smash session! But a year is the longest time in the development of a baby. As any parent knows, their baby changes week by week so by the time they reach their first birthday, they are virtually unrecognisable from the baby that I photographed during their first few days.
Little Sitter sessions are so much fun and such a very important milestone during a baby's first year. It needs to be timed just right, just as baby is beginning to sit independently but before they have the ability to crawl away! That's a whole different ballgame and an entirely different kind of shoot once they're on the move! But a perfectly timed Little Sitter session has one aim and that is to capture the developing personality of your baby. And I think we managed that entirely with Rosalie!
Because a lot of people miss out on a Little Sitter session, I've been wracking my brain to think of a way to entice my Newborn clients back for a six month shoot. From an entirely selfish point of view, I adore photographing babies at this age and I'm always so disappointed when I don't see them again until their first birthday. But more than that, I feel so sorry that the parents miss out on such wonderful images and the chance to document their child's development on anything else other than an camera phone. So that is why I came to the decision to offer a free Little Sitter session to everybody that has a Newborn session with me. There is nothing to pay and you will receive a complimentary print of your favourite image from the session. Everyone's a winner! And then of course, you will be free to start saving towards your Smash 'n' Splash session!
Looking back through Rosalie's first year in pictures, it's clear that her little personality was already beginning to form in her first few weeks at her Newborn session. They say that a baby's smile during those early days is just a touch of wind but looking at Rosie's gorgeous newborn smile, I would beg to differ! That happy little face has been present from the very start, from Newborn to Sitter to Smash 'n' Splash and her Mummy and Daddy have these images to look back on and to cherish for a lifetime.
A baby's first year is full of milestones and if as a photographer I can help to commit some of those memories to more than just a memory, then I feel like I might just be doing my job properly. Perhaps even living up to one of my favourite photography quotes...
"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever...It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything"
~Robert Frank
Thank you Rosalie's Mummy & Daddy for allowing me to capture and share in your beautiful little girl's first year.