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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions for your Maternity, Newborn, Baby and Family Photography sessions.

Very little! Everything is provided for your baby (wraps, outfits, props, backdrops etc). All you need to do is find something for yourself and your partner (plus siblings if you have other children) to wear for your family photos. What to wear will be discussed during your pre-shoot design consultation. 

Absolutely! In our opinion, this is a non-negotiable for anyone working with newborn babies. 

Sessions are available in-between Tuesday – Saturday and in general start at 10:30am.

Should you also have an older child that is still doing day naps we look at start times and adjust as needed where possible.

Our Newborn Photography sessions are held in the studio in Kew East.

2 – 4 hours. With most sessions being around 3 hours. 

Your family photos are photographed first. So if you have older children, and want them to go for a walk with Dad, or to be picked up by a friend or family member they are usually finished within the first hour. 

Absolutely! The studio is a pretty small space, but we can all squeeze in for a cuddle!

Just mention this during your planning phone call, so we can go through what they should wear (the Grandparents that is – not the pets!), and have a chat about your pet/s.

Absolutely. If you pop over to our instagram or facebook, you will usually see a bit of colour in our work.

Sure. Karen will always try to include your item as long as it is safe to do so. 

It is always a good time to have photos.

However the main reason that newborn photos are taken in the first 2 weeks of babies life is that they are still sleepy and curly. 

After this first couple of weeks babies become more sensitive to touch, and start to not be as flexible (Babies are born with over 300 bones in their bodies – extra ones are flexible cartilage so that they fit inside Mum, and as they grow these fuse together to make the 206 that we have as adults). 

Babies learn pretty quickly when they are woken that this usually means milk or cuddle time. So it just can’t be guaranteed what individual shots of bub can be achieved until you start working with them. 

This sensitivity to touch and “stiffening” out happens at different rates for every baby, however. So some 3 and 4 week olds (usually if they were born early) are still happy to be posed all sleepy and curly, and something that we are happy to try for if you would like.

If your baby is not happy to be posed, we can still get really cute individual shots of your baby swaddled, and heaps of family photos, so you will love your session regardless. 

If you are not really too fused about the individual newborn type of photos, however, people often prefer to wait until bub is around 8 weeks old, as at this age, they have longer awake times, so you get a mix of awake and sleeping shots, rather that just predominately sleepy shots. As an added bonus, bub’s at this age, are often just starting to smile with a bit more regularity when they see Mummy and Daddy, so sessions from this age point, will generally get a few smiles too! 

Frequently Asked Questions for your Vanilla Images Portrait Session

Baby sessions start from 8 weeks, as at this age point babies have more reliably longer calm awake periods and have stronger head support. This means that the requirements of your session change in terms of how we pose baby, length of session, heat levels, number of feeds needed in the session etc. 

Your baby can still be photographed if younger if you wish. Just see the newborn FAQ’s above! 

Yes. Your children and family and be photographed in the studio at any age. 

We just photograph a lot of babies in their first year so, this is why there is a wealth of information on babies on our website.

Just some clothes for you. I normally suggest 2 sets for parents. The studio is full of baby outfits and wraps, so no need to bring anything for baby unless you have some items that are your favourites or are sentimental to you. Your photographer Karen, will go into this in detail with you during your design consultation.

1 – 3 hours, depending on your baby’s age. 

Sessions are available Tuesday – Saturday and usually start at 10am ish (they are usually timed to happen after baby’s first nap for the day, or so they can nap in the car on the way). Every babies sleep schedule is a little different, so where possible we jiggle start times once we find out a bit more about what works for your little one. 

At our Melbourne baby photography studio in Kew. 

Absolutely. The studio is a very small space as it is a dedicated space for newborn and babies, but grandparents and/or pets are always welcome. 

Absolutely, Karen is always open to location suggestions. If she knows the spot and doesn’t think it is a good choice, or knows that it requires a permit to photograph there, she will of course let you know. 

It is also ok, if you don’t have any suggestions, as Karen will come up with the perfect spot for you. 

Family photography sessions are timed for the best light of the day, which is 45 minutes after sunrise or 1.5 – 2 hours before sunset. 

This means that start times do vary through the year, with the morning session starting between 7 – 8 am in the morning, and afternoon sessions starting between 3pm – 7pm.

The morning session is advised for babies and children under 2, so that they are at their freshest. 

Sessions are generally held on Thursdays and Saturdays.

We know that for a lot of people, that getting to a morning session as early as potentially 7am can seem an insurmountable task. But the light at that time of morning is truly worth it for an experience that you and your family will generally only have, a handful of times before your children are grown. 

When selecting a morning session, we will usually try to choose a location close to where you live to reduce your travel time, which helps. 

But some tips for making it out the door on time are:

  • Have everything laided out the night before, and packed and ready to go.
  • Get yourselves up and dressed first, and leave children to sleep for as long as possible.
  • Let them do the car ride in their PJ’s if easier. You can always get them dressed when they get out of the car.
  • If old enough do toast or fruit in the car for breakfast instead of at home.
 
 

Colour choices will be discussed with you during your design consultation. We want your images to look amazing in your spaces, so will consider where you might put your artwork, and your location for your photos when making suggestions. 

You are of course more that welcome to get your hair and make up done before your session, but you absolutely do not need to. We want you to look like you, so your children remember you just as the way they love you! We instead recommend doing your hair and makeup, just like you would when you are going out to somewhere special. 

Absolutely. Family sessions are perfect for this. 

If it’s light or patchy rain and your children are older, you have the option to go ahead and make it a bit of a themed session with umbrellas and/or gumboots. If its heavy rain or your children are babies or very little we would reschedule to the next available session.

Absolutely. We have heaps of suggestions, which most people go with, but if you have a particular spot in mind we would love to hear about it.

Travel fees are of course sometimes applicable if the location that you want is far away, and permit fees do apply to some spots, but we can usually advise you if that is the case with the spot that you have in mind.

Maternity Sessions are available on Thursdays or Saturdays. They are timed for the best light of the day, which is 45 minutes after sunrise or 1.5 – 2 hours before sunset. 

The afternoon session is generally the most popular, for maternity, however if this is not your first pregnancy and you have young children there are many benefits to an early morning start.

Our maternity sessions, while concentrating on the bump, are all about your love and life story that is bringing your little one into the world, so you are welcome to wear whatever suits your personal style. It does however help, to be able to see your bump, so something as tight fitting as you feel comfortable with is generally recommended.

That is completely up to you, but most of the people that we photograph do their own, similar to how they would if they were going out.

Most of the times, the weather on sessions, tends to work out, because even if it does look like it will rain during the time of your session, we can often shoot a bit earlier or later to avoid it. 

As there is limited time, where we can capture you with your bump before your baby arrives, we look at how long you have before your baby arrives, to see if there is time to re schedule, and if there is not change locations to one that has under cover options.