Newborn Portrait Ideas - Sentimental Props to Bring to Your Newborn Session

What should I bring to my baby’s newborn session?

I get asked this question all the time, and while the easy answer is “Not a thing! Don’t worry, I have everything here that you need!”, the more complicated answer is, “Well, what’s important to your family? Is there anything special you want to incorporate in your baby’s first portraits?”

(By the way, if you’re wondering what to expect in your newborn session, check out this post with all the details here!)

My portrait style tends to lean towards simple, clean, classic images where the baby is the focus without too many props or distractions taking away from this perfect little being that you just welcomed into your family. However, I understand wanting to make your little one’s newborn portraits your own and I encourage finding beautiful and creative ways to incorporate something meaningful into their portraits. Here are a few of my favorite ideas!

Bring a favorite swaddle from home.

These custom name swaddles are very popular right now, and there are literally hundreds of beautiful designs on lightweight muslin swaddles. I’m sure you were gifted a dozen of them for your baby shower! If you have one with colors that you love or colors that match the nursery or your home decor, bring it! I always love incorporating swaddles into our newborn portraits, and we usually do them as a backdrop or layering blanket to be able to see the full design. Plus, every time you use that swaddle in the coming months you’ll think back to your favorite portrait of your little baby!

Here are a few of my favorite images using swaddles that parents brought from home.

Grandma’s handmade blanket, or another family heirloom.

The beige blanket in the floor of the image below was passed down from the baby’s great grandfather. So was the bonnet! How special that we got to use it in this sweet girl’s first portraits?!

If you have a blanket that has been passed down in the family, or one that a family member knit or crocheted for you and you would like to incorporate it into your session, just let me know!

Jewelry.

There are so many beautiful ways to incorporate a little sparkle into your little one’s portraits! I’ve had families arrive with pearls that were a first Mother’s Day present for mom and baby. Other families with bracelets that mom wore as a baby and now they fit baby. Families with prayer beads that they used during their journey to get pregnant. Families with necklaces passed down from Grandma to the baby, who was given that same grandmother’s name. Whatever meaningful piece that you have, don’t hesitate to incorporate it into your photographs!

A special prop to honor your family’s journey up to this moment.

Rainbow babies. Miracle babies. IVF babies. We’re so lucky to welcome every single baby into the studio for their portraits, and I know that no two journeys to parenthood are the same. Whatever led you here, feel free to honor that story in a special setup for your little one. From ultrasound pictures and photos of embryos, to pineapples to represent their IVF journey, to rainbow hearts and stuffed animals with their angel brother or sister’s heartbeat inside. Your portraits tell your story. Whatever is meaningful to your family should make its way into your portraits.

A nod to a parent’s career, heritage, or hobbies.

This part is so much fun! Think if there is something special that defines your family or that one or both partners like to do. If you’d like to incorporate it into your little one’s photographs, we can! Stethoscopes for doctors during Covid, wedding saris, hiking boots, a hat or badge from a police officer, wooden shoes for a Dutch family, hot air balloons for the family that met at the hot air balloon festival.

There are all things that I have loved incorporating into photographs, and I know there are so many more creative ideas, too! I can’t wait to see what you come up with to make your portraits your own!

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Pretty Mauve Flowers for a Studio Newborn Session

Little Anaís is our newest Baby Plan member, and I loved welcoming her family into our Saratoga Springs portrait studio for her newborn session! We incorporated mauve florals and soft greenery to coordinate with her nursery, and I just love how it all came together for this sweet baby girl. Plus, this new mauve headband from my favorite boutique coordinated perfectly!

I always love wrapping the babies up so that we can see their tiny arms and legs, and Anaís looked so beautiful in this peach wrap against our white blanket. All of these headbands are also from Polka Dot Poppy, which is where I’ve been buying our studio headbands for years! They are all handmade, and I love how the designer incorporates such dainty details and beautiful colors into each one!

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Inspired by this newborn session? Pin this image or any from the post above!

Studio Newborn Session in our Fine Art Album: Boston Newborn Photographer

Every family has a story, and every story is a reason to celebrate.  

I was so honored to be invited to capture Blake Vivian's first days with her family.  They are the absolute sweetest, and I loved our studio newborn session together at the Attleboro studio.  

My most favorite keepsake from their session is this album.  I can just picture Blake at age 2, sitting with her daddy on the couch and pointing out "mama", "dada", and "baby Blake".  I imagine her at age 6, curled up on the couch with her mom and asking her to tell her "just one more time" about the day she came home from the hospital with her parents, and what she was like as a baby.  I like to imagine her 30 years from now, looking through the album to find similarities between herself as a newborn and her own little baby in her arms.

This is why I treasure my job and the moments with these families.  I feel so lucky to be invited into their lives to capture these moments and create heirlooms for them to enjoy throughout their lifetimes.

Enjoy a little peek into a few of my favorite pages of Blake's fine art album -- the colors from her session make my heart do a little happy dance every time I look at them all together!

2015 Year in Review Video by Nicole Starr Photography

2015 has truly been an incredible year, and I want to thank all of you for sharing so many magical moments with me!  

Enjoy this beautiful little video of some of our favorite images from the year.  I look forward to another beautiful year of storytelling in 2016!

To every family that asked me to tell their story: thank you.
To every mom who let me cuddle her newborn baby: thank you.
To every dad that wanted to surprise his wife with a keepsake gift: thank you.
To every creative entrepreneur that connected, laughed, shared, asked, taught, and learned with me this year: thank you.

And to every single person that connected with the stories in my photographs, commented on my images, shared their own stories with me, and let these beautiful families into their hearts through the images that I shared with you: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Behind the Scenes at Rockin' NDSS Studios

UPDATE:  Our Rockin' NDSS Studios project has been featured in an article on The Mighty!  Check it out here.

Last week's photo shoot at the National Down Syndrome Society in NYC was so much fun!  It was a heart-warming, eye-opening, incredibly collaborative experience that left us all with full hearts, happy souls, and tired bodies.  Overall, it was a huge success and I am truly honored to have played a small part in making this dream become a reality!

You can read my full blog post by clicking here to learn more about these extra special photo sessions, what we're going to do with the photos next spring, and see every single one of our lovely & talented models who rock that extra chromosome.

Here I am sharing many of our behind-the-scenes photos from our two days at the NDSS offices.  We turned their staff's offices into dressing rooms, their hallways into makeup studios and hair salons, and their conference room into a photo studio.  A little imagination goes a long way, and this amazing team of organizers, hair stylists, makeup artists, moms, dads, grandparents, cousins, siblings, models, and photographers truly showed what amazing things can happen when we all work together.

Enjoy a peek into our #rockinNDSSstudios adventure!

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Three photographers excited for sessions to begin: me, Sherri Harnisch and Wendy Zook.

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Joey, our Slash model out on the streets of New York City!  He really mastered the hard-core rocker look, tattoos (sleeves) and all!!

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Lady Gaga and Joan Jett in the makeup studio!

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A little bit of windblown fan action on our very own Mariah Carey!

Sibling love!

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Katelynn celebrated her 5th birthday by coming to our photo session as Scary Spice!  What a cutie!

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Kelly Clarkson and her twin sister.  As a twin myself, you know I always have a special place in my heart for twins on camera!

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Wendy really got our little Pat Benatar to rock out.  We had a full-on dance party in the studio to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" to get this little one in the spirit, and it truly worked!  Her photos are phenomenal!

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Our Usher had all the moves once we put on his favorite song.

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Isn't she the most adorable Tina Turner?  I love the missing front teeth!

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Our Buddy Holly was a little uncertain about the camera at first.  His sisters started a dance party with his guitar, and before we knew it, he was rocking out all by himself.  We couldn't resist a few fun photos of his whole family's jam session first, though!

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Sara's presidential duties at the NDSS also include custom makeup application.  This little guy was an amazing band member for KISS!

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Fist bump with Bob Dylan!

Rock on!

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Mason didn't want to have all the fun by himself, so he pulled his big sister out onto the dance floor at the end of the session.

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More KISS band members and their family's dance party!

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Oh my goodness.  This Elvis impersonator was seriously impressive.  Mickey owns multiple costumes, he performs all around town, and he is REALLY, REALLY GOOD at what he does.  I loved watching him when he was totally "in the zone" as Elvis during his shoot with Wendy.

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Teaching his sister and father how to groove.

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The sweetest sisters!

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Runaway baby!  Johnny Cash and June Carter.

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Grace was our youngest model, only 11 weeks old.  I insisted that we capture a few images with her gorgeous mama, and I am sure she is going to treasure these forever!  (Don't worry -- we'll send you a copy of the photos, Celine!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  From the bottom of our hearts.

A huge thank you to every single person that made this event possible, turning it from a dream into a reality.  It was a labor of love, and these two days spent sharing stories, making new friends, and bringing dreams to life were so incredibly worth it.  This was most definitely the most rewarding professional experience of my year, and it's all because of the incredible individuals that came together to make it happen.

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Now that you've had a behind the scenes look at our NYC experience, don't forget to check out our full blog post here on the Nicole Starr Photography page, too!

To see more of this journey, visit blog posts by fellow photographers Wendy Zook Photography and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker.

Rock Star Sessions with the National Down Syndrome Society in NYC

UPDATE:  Our Rockin' NDSS Studios project has been featured in an article on The Mighty!  Check it out here.

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just that little "extra".  

Oh my goodness!  My heart is so full right now!  I am wrapping up 2015 with what has truly become one of the highlights of my year -- and this has been an amazing year already, so that's saying something!

I've spent the past week going through my photos and reliving the brief but incredibly satisfying two days I spent in New York City doing photo shoots for the National Down Syndrome Society.  It was an amazing experience, and I'm still so overwhelmed with all of the smiles, laughter, and bonding that we fit into the little hallways and makeshift dressing rooms and studios of the NDSS offices.

This photo sums it up for me.  It's a behind the scenes look from my dear friend, Wendy Zook Photography, and I love the emotion captured in this moment.  There was so much laughter and so much connection between everyone involved.  In the end, we truly are more alike than different, and I LOVED getting to know each and every person that was involved in our sessions.  (Right here is when Judy told me, "Of course, sweetheart! Don't worry -- I got this!" when I showed her the Mariah Carey look we were going for in her shoot.  Such a doll!)

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When the National Down Syndrome Society first contacted me about joining them in NYC for an extra special photo shoot, I was speechless and so, so honored.  They had this crazy dream of bringing together a bunch of individuals with Down syndrome, dressing them up as rock stars, and having two days of photo shoots to recreate famous album covers that would be used as posters at their spring gala, their biggest fundraiser of the year.

They wanted me, Wendy Zook Photography of New York, and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker of Nebraska to help them bring this dream to life.  For two days, we worked with an incredible team of photographers, organizers, hair stylists, makeup artists, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and models who all came together for our amazing Rockin' NDSS Studios photo sessions.

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Our models ranged from 11 weeks new to 50 years old, and came in from all across the state and the country for these once-in-a-lifetime sessions.  They shared their stories, their dreams, their struggles, and their goals.  They taught us about their lives, what they were working hard for, and how much fun they were having in the process.  They studied hard to come prepared with the look, the moves, and the music of their idols.  We watched them make new friends in the group photos, shaking hands and sharing hugs while their families rushed to share their phone numbers to set up a get together.  We had dance parties in the studio, and we definitely rocked out to "Shake It Off" a time or two with our cameras snapping to loosen the models up.

It was SO.MUCH.FUN.

These photos are still a work in progress, and will be turned into posters for the NDSS Gala's fundraising auction next March.  We'll get to see these life-sized rock stars on display at B.B. King's Blues Club in Times Square.  I can only imagine how amazing that nightclub will look filled with all of these smiling rock stars' faces.  :o)  I can't wait to see it in person in March!

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And now, here are the photos you've been waiting for!

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Carter as Justin Bieber

Ben as Buddy Holly

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Caryn as Carole King

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Carson as Janis Joplin

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Auren as Usher

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Emely as Beyonce

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Riley as Marky Mark

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Brennan as Elton John

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Lucas as Kenny Chesney

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Anthony, Race, Sammy & Matthew as The Beatles

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Ryan as Bob Dylan

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Kailani as Tina Turner

Gabriel, Taegon, Luciano & Mason as KISS

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Judy as Mariah Carey

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Kayla as Madonna

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Francesca & Robby as June Carter and Johnny Cash

Grace as Aretha Franklin

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Luke as Billy Joel

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Joey as Slash

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Amber as Ginger Spice

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Katelynn as Scary Spice (This photo was taken on her 5th birthday!)

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Elena as Joan Jett

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Ameliah as Gwen Stefani

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Janissa as Diana Ross

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Evelyn as Pat Benatar

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Christopher as Elvis Costello

This is one of a three-part perspective on the #rockinNDSSstudios experience. To see more of this journey, visit blog posts by Wendy Zook Photography and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker.

And, because I couldn't possibly fit all of my photos into one post, be sure to check out some of our behind-the-scenes photos and fun family moments captured that day at the #rockinNDSSstudios by continuing on to this post.

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Love the photos?   View our original photo project for National Down Syndrome Awareness Month with Nicole Starr Photography right here with our local Massachusetts families.

Vivian's Pink & Floral Simply Baby Session

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Not all babies are as smiley as sweet little Vivi.  Sometimes, photographers luck out with the happiest of babies that love being in front of the camera.  (And sometimes we need to use a few of these tricks for a successful portrait session.)  She came to the studio and that smile didn't leave her face for even one minute.  Her eyes were sparkling, she was playful, and she loved the attention that her mother and I showered on her.  This little girl is such a model, and I had so much fun capturing her personality on camera during our pink and floral Simply Baby session.

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Peek-a-boo!  This is one of my favorite games for babies 5 months and up.  Tummy time & smiles.

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After a quick little outfit change, Vivian was ready to snuggle up with her lovies.  I love it when parents bring the baby's favorite blanket or stuffed animal to our session, and it's always so sweet to capture them together.  That blanket will one day be worn and gray, but you'll remember how much your little one carried it around, how you had to have a back-up at day care, at home, and at the grandparents' house, and how she never fell asleep without it.  You'll remember how she was the same size as her little pink bear, and how that bunny brought the biggest smile to her face every single time.

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Eleanor Katherine {A delicate and floral springtime newborn session}

Eleanor Katherine

April 16, 2015  |  1:28pm

6 pounds, 3 ounces  |  18 inches

I was so excited to welcome Ellie and her parents for their newborn session.  This little girl's arrival to the world was much-anticipated and long-awaited, so we were so happy to welcome this tiny little girl into the studio for the perfect springtime session.

Eleanor was a dream baby.  Her parents followed my prep packet steps exactly, and she arrived to the studio all tuckered out, slipped right into a milk coma, and was in dreamland the entire session.  This allowed us to get so many adorable set ups of their little girl, and many of the specialty shots that the parents had requested for family members.

I always love starting with the family shots, and this has become one of my favorites of showing a baby girl in her daddy's strong hands...

Look at all that hair!

Cute new wrap, you say?  Why yes, it is!  Luckily my husband, Jeff, didn't mind browsing the scarf racks with me at TJ Maxx this spring when the perfect baby wraps were on sale.  He's a keeper.  ;o)

I love how tiny she looks in this one!

Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!

She is perfect in every way.