Milestone Portraits for Baby Jacob - Saratoga Springs Baby Photographer

Sitter sessions. That’s what we call a portrait session when baby is sitting up unassisted. These is one of my favorite stages to capture on camera, and I always adore the happy babies that come to our Saratoga Springs baby portrait studio for their milestone sessions when they are in this stage. They love sitting up, showing off their new skills, and checking out the world around them. They laugh and giggle, they have the biggest smiles when I bring out the rattles or the bubbles, they are curious about everything, and they really are such a joy to capture on camera.

Of course, baby Jacob was 100% all of that, and more!

All of his outfits were from the studio wardrobe, which meant that his mom and dad didn’t need to bring a thing to their session! We chose a bunch of favorites when they arrived and it made it so nice and easy for them not to have to even worry about finding outfits ahead of time because there were a lot of beautiful, neutral options here at the studio.

I loved this sweet boy’s milestone session, and we even captured a few portraits with his big brother because big brother wasn’t totally feeling the sibling portraits 7 months ago back when we did Jacob’s newborn session and he was still adjusting to his new role as big brother. But you know what? That is soooooo common and it happens often with toddlers when the new baby is brought home. But this time around, big brother Jonas was thrilled to cuddle up with his baby brother and we captured the sweetest moments between the two of them! Some kids need a little time to warm up to their new baby, but once they do it is pure magic that unfolds and I know these two are going to have the strongest bond as they share many adventures together!

Check out Jacob’s newborn session here and see how much he has grown!

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Neutral Gray and White Newborn Portraits for Baby Easton

Little Baby Easton was a cuddly, snuggly little baby and I absolutely loved capturing his newborn portraits during his session at our Saratoga Springs newborn portrait studio. We used a mix of neutrals with mostly white and gray to match their home decor, and I love how everything came together so beautifully in these classic newborn portraits. These are a few favorites that his family chose to print for their home, and I know they’re going to love their new gallery wall with a mix of family portraits and baby portraits.

Want to know more about our printing options? From fine art prints and albums to matted prints and collection boxes, there are so many possibilities for how you can enjoy your artwork at home!

For many of my clients, this is their very first time doing a newborn session and they’re not quite sure what to expect. What do we wear, what if the baby cries, when do we feed the baby, what if he poops on everything…. I get it! There are so many questions before the session!

I reassure my clients that I have done this literally hundreds of times over the years, and it is my job to take the stress out of it for them and make it a seamless and enjoyable process for everybody.

That is why I spend so much time helping families know what to expect before their newborn session even begins, and then the day of I walk them through exactly what we will do to help everyone be comfortable. I’ve compiled a whole blog post filled with what to expect at your newborn session, and you can check it out here!

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Welcoming Baby Home - A Cozy Lifestyle Newborn Session in Saratoga Springs

There is nothing sweeter than an in-home lifestyle newborn session, and I loved every second with Baby John’s family as they welcomed their sweet boy home and showered him with love and kisses. His two big sisters adore him, and it was beautiful to watch them interact with their new brother and with each other. We had such a wonderful time and I truly enjoyed spending the morning with this family capturing and intimate peek into their lives at home with their new baby.

The crib is always one of my favorite spots for newborn portraits, and when it’s filled with creamy neutrals like this one, it’s truly the perfect spot to capture all of that newborn sweetness while still keeping the focus on the baby.

What a proud big sister! She was so excited for her new role as “big sister,” and I know she’s going to love her baby brother soooooo much!

Besides a few swaddles, I don’t bring any props to a lifestyle newborn session. We work with what you’ve got, which usually means incorporating your rugs and bedding as “backdrops” in your portraits. Here the three kids laid down on the nursery rug for this portrait, and later I posed the baby on the blue rug in the master bedroom. Simple & sweet!

This special pillow was made from their grandfather’s shirt, and it was extra sentimental to incorporate it into Baby John’s portraits.

No lifestyle newborn session is complete without a few little monkeys jumping on the bed!

Wondering if a lifestyle newborn session is the right fit for your family? Check out the helpful tips in this blog post to see if this might be just what you’re looking for in your portrait session!

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A Musical Cake Smash for Miles' First Birthday

I loved planning a musical cake smash for Miles’s first birthday! This sweet boy music and he is always dancing and bopping to the beat, so it made sense to incorporate it into his first birthday cake smash theme! We used blues to match his nursery, and I made the music notes by hand to hang on his backdrop. We incorporated white balloons to match his big sister’s cake smash from two years ago (check it out here!).

Want to see how much this sweet boy has grown? Check out his milestone and newborn portraits here!

We had so much fun capturing these playful family portraits, and I’m so excited that they’re going to be adding them to their gallery wall in the living room. This will surely make them all smile every time they see them!

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Classic Black & White Portraits - Saratoga Springs Child and Baby Photographer

There is just something so classic about a black & white portrait that shows your little one’s full personality, don’t you think?

I offered these Little Loves portrait sessions for the first time this winter and I fell completely in love with capturing the many facets of children’s personalities in the studio during a session that focuses on just them.

No props.

No colors.

No themes.

Just pure & classic portraits during a session that lets them be silly, happy, shy, loud, playful, and a million other things that make them who they are.

Many families chose The Mosaic Frame to showcase their children’s portraits. It’s a gorgeous new wall art piece that I’ve added to our product lineup. The 20” portrait has 9 images matted and custom framed for a statement piece that is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face every time you see it. In fact, I have TWO of Grayson’s in our home — one downstairs in the studio, and a different one upstairs in our entryway! I love them so much and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of looking at it!

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Celebrating Grayson's Third Birthday with a Mail Truck Cake Smash

Our son Grayson turned 3, and we celebrated with a cake smash in our Saratoga Springs portrait studio!

Grayson had been begging me for a cake smash for months, naturally forgetting about the two he already enjoyed for his first birthday and second birthday! He loves hearing stories about other babies smashing their cakes and he gets such a kick out of seeing their pictures on my computer and in print when I am packaging orders up for my clients. He kept telling me that he wanted to do a cake smash, so I told him that he had to help me get it ready.

We chose a mail truck theme because this little guy is obsessed with vehicles. While school buses continue to be his #1 love, mail trucks are a close second. Since he was a baby he has been able to recognize the stop-and-go engine of the mail truck from many blocks away and tell us that it’s coming. He loves watching the mail get delivered and going to check the mailbox. Naturally, this was the perfect cake smash theme for our curious three year old!

Grayson loves helping me set up for other people’s sessions, and he always asks to come down into the studio to get things ready when he knows a baby is coming in for their session. He loves helping me make balloon garlands for cake smashes, so Grayson helped me make the balloon garland and all of the other decor for his session! Because of food allergies, we aren’t able to give him cake from the local bakeries and we make all of our own baked goods for him to enjoy, so my little baker even helped bake & frost his cake, too! It all came together for a perfectly adorable mail truck cake smash, and he was one happy little birthday boy!

Check out Grayson’s earlier birthday portraits here!

We always try to go for a unique theme that represents his interests and is meaningful to him and to our family’s story. Three years in and I would say we’re doing pretty well with the one-of-a-kind ideas!

Your Newborn Portrait Session: What to Expect

As a first-time mom, I know how overwhelming the idea of taking your brand new baby to a studio for a newborn portrait session can be. You just had a baby, you’re still recovering and you probably still feel a little sore and puffy, and you haven’t slept in what feels like months. The only place you’ve ventured out has been the pediatrician’s office, and even that felt like the big adventure for the day. And now you’re getting ready to go to the photography studio for your newborn session, and you’re not quite sure what to expect.

That’s where I can help make that all a little easier for you, mama.

I’ve been in your shoes as a brand-new mom, and I know exactly what you’re going through. Here on the blog I’m sharing a peek into what your newborn session will look like so that you can feel prepared and a little more confident as you head in there because you’ll now know what to expect. Here we go!

Choose a photographer that has plenty of experience posing newborns.  

Let’s start with the very first & most important thing. If you haven’t chosen a photographer yet, be sure to keep this in mind because all I want is for your little one to be comfortable and safe during their session, and for you to feel at ease the entire time.

While you may have loved your wedding photographer, if they are not specially trained in the art of newborn photography then they may not be the best fit when it comes time to handle your tiny and fragile 6 to 8 pound baby.  The same thing goes for your neighbor who just bought a fancy camera and who offered to try it out on your baby. 

A photographer who has been trained in newborn posing knows how to keep the baby comfortable, how to ensure that their airways are never obstructed, and how to ensure that blood is still circulating to all of their limbs even when they are wrapped up in a swaddle.  They are careful not to overextend their wrists and ankles when posing them, and they know just the right spots on their skull that they can touch to help reposition their head. They know how to get your baby to sleep and how to calm them when they are fussy.  They understand how to read a baby’s cues when they are uncomfortable, gassy, or hungry, and they know how to react to every possible scenario.  All of that is before they even pick up their camera.

If you choose a photographer who specializes in newborn photography and posing, then you will be able to sit back and relax during your little one’s session as the photographer takes gentle care of your little one while capturing their portraits.

When you arrive at the studio…

When families come to my studio I have them take their shoes off at the door to keep the floors clean for the babies & toddlers that we have in our space.  I let parents settle in on the studio sofa and I show them where the snacks and drinks are, and if big brother or sister is there we spend a little time in the toy corner to help them get acclimated to the new space.


Parents can change into their outfits for their portraits while I swaddle the baby. Sometimes baby will need a little more milk to be topped off before the session begins, and that’s okay!  We have plenty of time and we are never in any rush when it comes to your newborn baby’s portraits.

I invite parents to choose a few swaddles, headbands, hats, and layers for their baby’s portraits.  It helps to see all of the colors lined up for you to choose your favorites.  Then I make a pile of those and I work my way through them when we are doing your baby’s individual portraits later on in the session.  

The heater is on in the studio year-round to keep it nice and toasty for your little one, so be prepared to be a little warm while you’re here.  After we finish your family portraits you can get changed back into your comfy clothes, so dress in light layers and you’ll be all set!

What to expect during your newborn session with Saratoga Springs NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

First up come family portraits!

We start with mom first, and I pose baby in her hands.  Then we add in her partner and then big brother/sister join, too.  I try to move the baby as little as possible between groupings, so we’ll do a variety of portraits with mom holding the baby, add in dad and siblings, then switch to dad holding the baby and we’ll add in mom and siblings again.  

Because of the transitions and moving from one pair of hands to another, the baby is swaddled for the family portraits to help him or her stay calm and sleepy.  A sleepy baby is easy to pose, and that way we can pay more attention to things like getting big brother to look at the camera or kiss his new sister, moving mom’s hair out of her eyes, or fixing dad’s cuff on his shirt so that it falls just right in the portraits.

Then it’s baby’s turn!

After the family portraits you can sit back, relax on the couch, and help yourself to a snack.  Your baby will still be swaddled and I will start with a few classic portraits of baby in a classic neutral white/cream setup before moving on to the layers and swaddles that you selected at the beginning of the session.  

Sleepy babies are easier to pose.  However, I love it when babies are awake and we can capture some wide-eyed shots of them, but they usually wind up falling asleep with the combination of white noise, heat, and the swaddle.  We work with what we’ve got to keep baby comfortable and happy through out the session, so whether baby is awake or asleep, we will still capture beautiful portraits of them!

As the baby settles into a deeper sleep I begin re-wrapping them, gently pulling their little arms and legs out to pose them just so, moving them onto their tummy for the head-on-hands pose, and wrapping them in the womb pose where their legs are tucked up against their belly and we can see their legs, arms, and belly all curled up and cozy.  

If baby wakes up we read their cues to see if they are hungry or if they need a new diaper.  We usually need to take a break to feed baby during the session, and you can be ready to nurse or give a bottle during the session.  


Let’s talk about the messy stuff.  Pee & poop & spit up — it happens!  Everything in the studio is washable (including the couch!) and everything gets cleaned after every session anyways, so don’t worry too much about it.  I’m a mom and I’ve seen it all!  Plus, if you’re a first time parent I can usually give you some tips to make all of that messy stuff a little easier for you guys at home, too!  

After we have captured a variety of portraits of your little one, we are all done!  You have time to change & dress your baby, and if you need to feed them again before getting in the car you can absolutely do that, too.

After the session

If you’re comfortable with a sneak peek on social media, I usually share that 3-4 days after your session.  Then we will get together about 2 weeks later for your ordering appointment! 

We’ll design your birth announcements, choose your favorite family and baby portraits to hang on your walls, and select your favorite images for an album or a collection box.  This is always my favorite part when families fall in love with the images we created of their new baby!  

Once I send everything to print you’ll get it back between 2-6 weeks — certain products take closer to the 4-6 week mark, but prints, albums, and cards are always ready much, much sooner.  When everything is ready I will either come drop it off or put it in the mail to you, and you’ll start enjoying your images right away at home!

Any questions?  I’d be happy to chat with you about your little one’s portrait session. 
Click on the button below and let’s connect!

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Grayson Noah's newborn portraits with Big Brothers

This sweet baby boy is a NICU warrior. And so are his parents! His family waited a long time to bring him home, and when they finally did they celebrated with a portrait session to document his first days with his family & big brothers. We captured the sweetest family portraits of the five of them together at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio, plus plenty of baby Grayson all by himself. They did such a wonderful job coordinating outfits for everyone and I love how the neutral colors keep the focus on the family and the emotions. Don’t they look wonderful all cuddled up with their new baby boy?!

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Tips to Look Your Best in Your Maternity Portraits

Hey, mamas! Pregnancy is such a special season in your life. While there were many things that I did not love about being pregnant with Grayson, I do remember always enjoying the giddy anticipation that comes with waiting for your first baby to arrive. That’s one of the reasons I love working with mamas to capture portraits for them during this season of anticipation!

Every mama wants to look glowy and gorgeous in her maternity portraits, right? But at the same time, your body is changing every day and sometimes you don’t quite recognize yourself when you look in the mirror — I get it, I’ve been there! ;o) However, let’s look at all the positives hidden in these changes: your hair has never been longer & thicker; your skin has never glowed quite so much; and your body has more beautiful & soft curves than ever before. YOU ARE GORGEOUS, MAMA!

You want to feel beautiful, confident, and feminine in your portraits, but this is your first time doing a maternity portrait session and you’re not quite sure how to achieve that. Here I’m sharing some simple tips to help you look beautiful in your maternity portraits, and I hope you find them helpful!

1. Choose a photographer who has plenty of experience working with new mamas. You want to hire someone who knows the best angles, the best lighting, and the most flattering colors and fabrics for your body. Browse their website, check out their social media, and get a feel for their style and their experience. The more experienced the photographer, the more comfortable they will be able to make you feel when you are in front of the camera.
   

2. Plan your session for between weeks 28-32. Sometimes I work with mamas closer to week 36, so it just depends on how you feel. If you’re expecting multiples, go a little earlier between weeks 26-30. You want to ensure you have the session early enough when you are still comfortable moving around, and also in case you happen to deliver early this will ensure enough time for your gallery reveal before the baby arrives!
   

3. Drink lots of water the week before your session. LOTS. This will help your skin be clear and give you even more of a motherly glow.
   

4. Speaking of skin, pay extra attention to moisturizing and exfoliating your skin in the week or two before the session. Healthy skin is happy skin, and happy skin looks amazing on camera. Pay extra attention to your elbows, baby bump, décolletage, and of course your face. If you’ll be wearing a shorter dress or just panties on the bottom, don’t forget your knees and ankles, which tend to show dry skin more than other areas of your body.
   

5. If you can, invest in professional hair & makeup for your session. Or, if you’re going to do your hair and makeup yourself, here are a few tips! Wear your hair down and give it a good blowout that day for extra volume and shape. Don’t underestimate the power of a little extra mascara, eyeliner, and blush. And for your lips, a lip gloss or lipstick will have a huge impact! Keep your lip product handy during the session to reapply for a fresh look.
   

6. Choose the right fabric for your outfits. You don’t have to wear a dress if it’s really not your style, but I do believe that long flowy dresses are incredibly flattering on pregnant women and they really accentuate your baby bump in the most beautiful way. A few other great options are an oversized sweater, a bathrobe or cardigan with a lace bra & panties, an oversized men’s shirt, or leggings and a flowy tunic top. When choosing fabrics, opt for thin and flowy over thick and bulky. Try it on ahead of time and make sure if flatters across your chest and baby bump.
   Did you know that we have a closet filled with dresses at the studio? We call it our Mama Wardrobe and clients are more than welcome to wear as many as they would like during their portrait session!
   

7. Don’t forget the undergarments! A nude bra is key. If you have a strapless bra that fits, bring that, otherwise we can just tuck your straps into the dress and make it work that way. I recommend seamless panties to avoid any lines showing through the think fabric of the dresses, too, preferably nude or light-colored instead of black or patterned.

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Blush Pink Newborn Portraits with Adorable Big Sister

Baby Sienna was as sweet as can be! She joined me at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio for her newborn session along with big sister Gianna, who I have been photographing since SHE was a little baby. I absolutely loved watching these two sisters together and capturing their very first portraits as a family of four. We used a lot of creams and blush pink to go along with Gianna’s previous sessions so that everything will coordinate beautifully on their gallery wall in the living room, and I just love how it all turned out!

Plus, I am officially in love with the white room we’ve built into the corner of the new studio. The light coming through the curtains is beyond magical and it is so soft and perfect in portraits. Don’t you just love these family portraits?!?! Mama looked amazing in the white lace dress from the studio’s Mama Wardrobe, and she chose the most adorable looks for big sister, too!

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Timeless Milestone Portraits for Baby Xander

Xander joined me at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio for his milestone session, and I loved capturing this sweet stage of sitting up, belly rolls, elbow dimples, and baby giggles. This is one of my favorite ages to photograph and I always love our milestone sessions that showcase your baby’s budding personality and their new skills that they are oh-so-proud of.

Your baby’s first year is an absolute whirlwind — and time seems to go especially fast if it’s your second baby, like Xander is! During these sessions we slow down time for just a moment and document their personality and this beautiful stage they are in.

From sitting up to tummy time, there are so many options with these portraits. They are the perfect transition between the newborn session and the first birthday cake smash, and we personalize the colors to fit your family’s style and decor.

Wondering what your baby should wear for their milestone portraits?

Let me help you!

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Fun Fall Family Portrait Session with Two Brothers

JB is one of my son Grayson’s best buddies. They were born just two weeks apart and it has been so amazing watching them grow together. It’s adorable to watch them interact and to see how excited they get when they see each other, and while most of their playdates over the past year have been on FaceTime, we look forward to getting together in person again soon!

I was lucky enough to capture family portraits for JB’s family in the fall, and he welcomed a new baby brother in 2020, too! We had so much fun playing and laughing together at Saratoga Spa State Park, and the fall colors were absolutely gorgeous in their portraits. Didn’t they do a wonderful job planning outfits for everyone? This blog post is always a huge help for families trying to figure out what outfits will look best on camera!

Just look at this handsome little guy! Soooo cute!

JB’s little brother Henry always seems to have a smile on his face, and I was so glad we were able to capture his joyful personality on camera during their session.

Check out more of my favorite 2020 family sessions here on the blog!

Did you know that we’re already booking family sessions for next fall? It’s never too early to schedule your family’s portraits, so plan ahead before the calendar fills up!

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Adorable newborn portraits with dainty flower headbands

Adorable Baby Melina joined me at our Saratoga Springs portrait studio for her newborn session, and I absolutely loved capturing these moments of this beautiful baby girl’s first days with her family. She had a head full of dark hair that looked so beautiful against all of the soft colors and dainty headbands in the studio and we had so much fun pulling together the blush pinks, creams, and neutrals for her first portraits.

Melina slept like a dream and was so easy to pose into those adorable, squishy baby poses. Her mama chose a mauve lace gown from the studio’s Mama Wardrobe, which is our closet filled with dresses for mothers to borrow during their sessions. It looked amazing on her!

Big brother Vincent was so excited to welcome his new baby sister into the family, and we captured his excitement through great big smiles and giggles and lots of snuggly cuddles with his new sister.

I love it when parents choose this lace bonnet from our shelf for their newborn girl! Doesn’t Melina look so sweet in this?!

Her mama brought her favorite baby swaddle (above) and we incorporated it as a peachy layer in one of her portraits. The theme of her baby shower was mermaids and she received a little mermaid tail as a gift, which we were able to use in two portraits of Melina as well!

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Tips to Organize and Print Your Family's Photo Albums

One of my biggest projects during quarantine last spring was to finally get caught up on printing my family’s personal photo albums. And by “caught up”, I mean get started.

I was hugely inspired by Kate L. Photography’s blog post about her annual yearbooks, and I decided to use the same printer (Blurb Books) and album size that she uses. I loved her colorful covers so much that I wanted those bringing cheer to our bookshelves, too, and I am so glad I did! The covers are one of my favorite parts of these albums! A huge thank you to Kate for the inspiration that I needed to finally tackle this project!

I had already printed 3 different albums since Grayson was born in 2018 with his Fresh 48 photos, first year photos in the studio, and some lifestyle images done by a photographer friend, but I still hadn’t done anything with all of the hundreds of other photos that we had taken over the past few years. We had thousands of photos on my phone and my husbands phone, and hundreds more that I had taken on my camera of our day-to-day adventures. I was overwhelmed with where to start, but I knew that I wanted to get those photos organized and printed so that we could start to enjoy reliving those moments again and again.

I wound up organizing my photos from 2018 and cranking out the design for the first book in a few days. When it arrived in the mail and I saw how interested Grayson was in reading the book, turning the pages, and talking about every single photo and every single story, I knew that this was definitely going to be my new priority.

I quickly created 2019’s book, and for the past year we enjoyed the set of books. Grayson literally pulls them off the shelf multiple times a week and will spend an hour looking through the pages and talking about our adventures. It makes my mama heart so happy to see how much he loves these books!

So with 2018 and 2019 in print, of course I made it a priority to capture even more moments of our day to day lives in 2020 with the goal of preserving these stories in our annual photo album. When it came time to create the album, I designed it in two nights and sent it off to print. Easy peasy!

Now, if you’re feeling like I was a year ago and you’re wondering where to even begin with the thousands of photos sitting on your phone and hard drive, I want to help you!

Keep reading for tips on organizing your photos and making this task something you look forward to instead of dread & avoid!

I have compiled some of the things I’ve learned from making my own albums, plus tips I’ve talked with friends about and strategies that they’ve found to work for them. Take what you will, and make it work for you!

1. Start small.

You know that quote that goes something like, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” This is how you want to approach this project. You don’t have to organize all of your photos at once. Start with the most recent ones and work your way backwards. Right now, just focus on last year. Do all of these tasks for one year at a time, and then when you’re done go back to the one before that until you’re all caught up.

2. Choose your favorites first.

If you have a ton of photos on your phone, this part is easy! I’ve only ever owned an iPhone so I don’t know how it works on an Android, but I’m sure it’s similar. Go through and click the heart/favorite button to mark all of your favorite photos. You can scroll back to look at the ones in a particular month/year. While you’re at it, go ahead and delete the screenshots, cast-offs, and any other photos that are just clogging up your phone. Put a reminder on your phone every evening for a week to spend 15 minutes going through and marking your favorites. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole year of favorites saved in an album that is ready to export!

3. Get the photos ready to print.

Now you need to get the photos off of your phone and onto your computer to design the album. Or you can use a printing company that will just let you upload from your phone. I hear that www.chatbooks.com is great for this! I have not personally used them, but I heard you can upload right from your phone.

You can plug your phone into your computer to transfer the photos. You can save them to the cloud or Dropbox and access them that way. You can AirDrop them. However you want to, get those photos onto your computer.

Are you going to edit them? This is a personal preference. I chose to adjust the brightness and color of most of my cell phone photos in Lightroom. I also used that to crop them to whatever crop I felt best suited each portrait. You can get a Lightroom CC subscription for just $9.99 a month, and this would be a great way for you to try out the software if you’re new to it!

When saving your photos, sort them by month to make it easy to plug them into your album. I export in Lightroom and I automatically have them sorted by capture date. This names them in the order the photographs were taken, and it is really easy for me to them put them together in a logical and sequential order when I go to design my book (next step!).

4. Design your album!

Most album companies have free software that lets you drag and drop your photos into templates to easily create your album. I recommend choosing a few of their pre-made layouts that you love and repeating those throughout the book. I tend to do layouts with 2-6 images on each spread, and sometimes I will do a page with 4-9 smaller but related images in a grid.

Make sure to not try and fit too many photos on each page because you want to be able to see the details in each one without making it feel cramped. I like layouts that have a little white space between the images and at the top & bottom of the page.

Don’t overthink it, and don’t let your perfectionist tendencies take over here. Done is better than perfect right now. If you keep tweaking the layout you will never get around to getting the album printed, and you’re going to get a lot more enjoyment out of it when sitting on the couch flipping through the pages with your little one than you will by spending another night moving photos around on your screen to see how they look a different way.

5. Print it & enjoy!

Once I designed my album I was so proud of it that I wanted to print it right away. But I had heard that Blurb Books ALWAYS has sales so I decided to wait for a sale — which is a good thing because my albums tend to have 110-125 pages!

Sign up for their emails and before you know it, you’ll get a notification about a sale. Simply upload it to print, and you’re done! Then you can start waiting by your mailbox for it to arrive, eager to tear open the box the minute it’s delivered. (Wait, I’m not the only one that does that, am I?!?!)

Psst!!! Use this link to save $30 on your first album! (affiliate link)

6. Create a system to stay organized moving forward.

After you’re all caught up and you’ve printed however many years worth of family photos that you have backlogged, create a system to stay on top of it.

Have only a few minutes a month?
Choose a time once a month to sort through your photos from that month and mark a few favorites. If you do this regularly, it will only take you 10-15 minutes to add a few to your favorites folder each month. Put it on your calendar or set a reminder on your phone, and make sure you do it! Then at the end of the year you simply open up that favorites folder and start designing your album!

Have an hour a month?
Pour a warm cup of tea or a glass of your favorite wine, put on some music, and get to work! Set that reminder on your calendar so this is an evening activity you can look forward to each month. Mark your favorite photos from the month, and upload them into an album design right then and there. As the year goes on you’ll slowly add to your album page layouts, and at the end of the year it will all be done for you and ready to print.

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A Peek at Our Family's Annual Photo Albums

Our annual family photo albums are definitely top on the list of “things I would save in a fire.”

Grayson pulls them off the shelf multiple times a week to flip through the pages, talk about the photos, and relive the memories and adventures we had. He loves sitting on my lap and reading them, and cozying up with Grandma or Dada to look through the pages.

I finally started creating annual photo albums last year during quarantine. I had printed a few albums of Grayson’s first year, but nothing that held all of our cell phone photos and images captured on my nice camera from our daily lives. When the world slowed down last spring, it was the perfect time to me to get caught up, organize my photos, design a few albums, and get them printed.

I am so proud of these albums, and I love seeing how much joy they bring to our lives. I made 2018 and 2019’s albums last year, and it motivated me to continue capturing photographs throughout 2020 (even when we were just staying home and not doing anything that exciting!). By documenting our everyday lives and the little things that make up the year, I love how it all comes together to tell the story of our family and our year. So 2020’s album, while it may not be filled with trips and friends and visits with family, is still chock-full of memories, so many silver linings, lots of laughs, and plenty of love.

I was hugely inspired by Kate L. Photography’s blog post about her annual yearbooks, and I decided to use the same printer (Blurb Books) and album size that she uses. I loved her colorful covers so much that I wanted those bringing cheer to our bookshelves, too, and I am so glad I did! The covers are one of my favorite parts of these albums! A huge thank you to Kate for the inspiration that I needed to finally tackle this project!

I can’t even begin to count how many dozens of times I have walked down the stairs to find Grayson sitting on the couch, carefully turning the pages of an album and talking about the pictures. It melts my heart!

Overwhelmed with how to begin organizing your own photos? Another helpful blog post is coming later this week filled with tips to get you started!

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10 Things You Didn't Know About Me | Saratoga Springs Baby Photographer

Today’s my birthday!  I don’t even know how another year has passed, but 2020 was such a time warp, wasn’t it?!  I’m grateful for another trip around the sun, and this year more than ever I am grateful for my health.  I’ll be celebrating with my little family today, and I’m already looking forward to a toddler rendition of “Happy Birthday”, some FaceTime calls with friends & family, and of course, birthday cake!

 To celebrate I’m sharing a special little blog post with a peek into my life.  Here is a list of 10 things you probably didn’t know about me!

1. My favorite job as a teenager was at an ice cream shop on Cape Cod!

2. I have an identical twin sister. Yes, we look alike. Yes, people confuse us all the time. No, we never switched places growing up. ;o)

3. My perfect vacation is in a tiny little beach house just a stone’s throw away from the shoreline.

4. My first DSLR camera was a Nikon D3200 with a kit lens (the one it comes with when you buy it on sale on Black Friday). I’ve obviously upgraded multiple times over the years, and my latest upgrade is the new mirrorless Nikon Zii!

5. I speak Spanish fluently. In fact, I have my master’s degree in Spanish literature and I used to teach first grade at a bilingual elementary school where the curriculum was taught entirely in Spanish.

6. When I was a teacher, I spent almost every summer traveling in Europe. It was HOT, but those summers were so much fun!

7. Visiting the Christmas markets in Scandinavia has been on my travel bucket list for years. I’ll get there one day!

8. Technically, I met my husband through Craigslist. But actually, I met his sister through Craigslist when I was looking for a roommate in Boston 12 years ago, and after she and I lived together for 3 years I started dating her brother!

9. I’ve never broken a bone.

10. I met my best friend while studying abroad in Argentina in college. Today is her birthday, too! That’s why we call each other “Gemela,” which is Spanish for “twin.”

Tell me something about YOU! Do we have anything in common?

Winter Family Portraits in Downtown Saratoga Springs

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A Mint and Navy Cake Smash for Baby Gabriel

https://www.nicolestarrphotography.com/blog/2020/1/the-best-places-to-shop-for-cake-smash-outfits

https://www.nicolestarrphotography.com/blog/2019/12/how-to-choose-a-cake-smash-theme-for-your-babys-first-birthday-portraits

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Tips for Photographers: How to make your studio space welcoming and comfortable for your clients

Recently a new mom was in the studio for her newborn session. She was sitting on the couch nursing her two-week old daughter, and her toddler was playing with toys in the corner while her husband hung out and helped hand her a few things from the diaper bag. We were in between setups and we had just finished the family portraits, and she looked around and said:

“Your studio is just so welcoming and cozy!
I feel so comfortable here. You’ve really thought of everything!”

In that moment I was so happy to receive that compliment, and I told her how much those kind words meant to me. You see, I had only moved into my new studio less than 3 months before her session. We had installed new floors, painted the walls, assembled furniture, hung artwork, and organized all of the things. I had worked my butt off to create a space that was calming, welcoming, and versatile while maximizing every inch of space.

It is really important to me that my studio is a space where new parents feel like they can relax. So much about those first few weeks (months, or even the first couple of years!) is a swirling sea of unknowns. But when they step into my studio I want them to feel like they can take a deep breath and let the space soothe them, allowing them to enjoy our session together and enjoy watching their baby at their first portrait session.

So, how do you replicate that in your studio?

What are the things you can keep in mind to create a space that is just as welcoming and cozy?

First, get into the mind of a mom. Whether you are a mom or you’re not a mom, surely you know other moms and you can ask them what would make their lives a little easier. This will vary for every stage of parents that you have in your studio, and newborn parents will need different things than first birthday parents, who will need different things from toddler parents and school-age parents. But start to think what would make them feel more relaxed and at ease when they come to your studio.

Let’s start with right when they walk in the door.

A designated place to hang their coat, leave the baby carrier, and drop their diaper bag and shoes.

A comfy couch to rest on, ideally in a spill-proof and wipeable fabric so they don’t have to worry about their little one making a mess on it.

I write their little one’s name on a chalkboard sign by the entrance, and it makes them smile knowing that I personalized it just for their baby! Right away they feel welcomed and special.

Then show them around and let them settle in. Thoughtful little touches make a BIG difference!

Show them where the snacks are. Speaking of snacks, if you don’t have snacks for families this is an easy place to start! I have a little three-tier cart filled with kid-friendly snacks like goldfish, raisins, and chocolate chip cookies. My studio is peanut-free and tree nut free, and I make sure all of our snacks are, too. I also have water bottles and juice boxes on the cart, and paper towels, baby wipes, and tissues, too.

Coffee & tea! I have a little Keurig machine in the studio with cute little mugs and coffee pods. I make sure to plug it in and warm up the water ahead of time, and I always make sure parents know they can help themselves to some coffee.

A bathroom. Show them where it is, and make sure it’s well-stocked before they arrive.

Do you have a place for them to get changed? What about hooks up high to hang long dresses so they don’t reach the floor? I’ve turned a corner into a changing nook by hanging curtains on a track from the ceiling, If you want to maximize your little studio space, this would be perfect for you! Be sure to put a full-length mirror in there, too, and open the curtains when it’s not in use to make the space appear bigger.

Is mom nursing? Have a Boppy pillow handy to offer her. Bottle feeding? Keeping a bottle warmer in the studio is a great idea! When she’s feeding the baby, try and read the vibe she’s giving off, and if it seems like she might want a little privacy then make an excuse to sneak out for a few minutes to give her some quiet moments with her little one. This is especially important for nursing moms, and some brand new first-time moms can be a little anxious about feeding the baby in public and getting everything in just the right position, and this might be her first time nursing the baby outside of the comfort of her home where she can be walking around without a shirt all day. Other moms don’t care whatsoever and are completely comfortable around anyone else in the room, it just varies from mom to mom! So just read the vibe and give her space if you think she might appreciate it.

Big brother or sister? You want to have ways to keep them entertained. I ask about their interests ahead of time and I try to keep toys in the play corner that will occupy them. I have board books, blocks, little horses in a stable, cars, trains, and some manipulative activities and puzzles to keep them busy. I bring in new toys from my son’s toy stash based on their interests. One little tip: avoid crayons or markers, especially if you don’t want to have to worry about their drawings accidentally ending up on the walls!

Display samples of all of the products you offer, showcasing different types of sessions and portraits. Let them see your newborns, cake smashes, outdoor family portraits, and more! This gives them inspiration for upcoming sessions, and they’ll know without even asking what types of portraits you offer!

Get them involved and let them select a few items for their session! Have your wraps, headbands, and little outfits displayed in a way that clients can look through them and choose a few favorites. This helps them be more invested in the session and more excited about creating personalized portraits!

Create an overall feeling of warmth and space.

Even if you have a small studio space, there are still ways you can create a welcoming atmosphere for your clients. I use a cohesive color palette throughout to make everything flow together seamlessly. Those colors fit my brand, so for me it’s all white, cream, muted gold/champagne, and natural unfinished wood. This helps the space feel airy, even though it’s in a basement with low ceilings.

Wipe everything down with a lightly-scented sanitizing wipe before the session, but make sure there is not an overpowering smell in the studio when they arrive. You want it to be clean and fresh, but not so much that it’s all they remember about their session. You don’t want them going home complaining about the photographer’s studio that stinks like too much lemon lysol. ;o)

Create space. Try not to have anything crowded around the seating area/couch so that families have space for their bags, toys, clothes, and room to move around. You don’t want them to feel like they are tripping over everything when they stand up to get a snack.

Turn on all the lights when you can so that it’s not dark, and make sure to keep the temperature comfortable! Keep a space heater in there, and also fans or AC for the warmer months.

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Did you notice that I haven’t said a thing about props? Having a studio isn’t all about having, storing, and displaying your prop collection. A studio is a space where you can welcome your clients. It is a space they come to for their portrait session, and while yes, props are important, they are not the ONLY thing to think about when you are setting up your studio.

You want to be the photographer who keeps the client’s comfort and needs in mind first.

Make sure you are welcoming them into your studio, helping them feel comfortable, and doing everything possible to give them an extraordinary experience. Then those will be the clients who can’t stop raving about how wonderful you are, who are eager to come back for another session, and who tell all their friends about you.

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Download our freebie checklist!

Now it’s time to refresh your studio space! Download this checklist to help you create a client-focused studio that is just as welcoming & cozy!

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Are checklists totally your thing?

Check out our Cake Smash Prep Bundle for more tools to help your business!

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Sweet and simple portraits for a newborn baby boy

Oh my goodness. I loved Baby Ollie’s newborn portrait session so much! This little guy was the absolute sweetest, and he had a head full of hair that just popped against all of the neutral layers and wraps. His skin was so creamy and he was a dream to photograph. I used a new waffle-knit wrap and posing blanket for this baby boy, and I love how beautifully the texture photographs and that special little touch that it adds to his portraits. Scroll down for some of my favorites!

Those wide-eyed newborn shots are always a favorite for the parents! Ollie was so calm and cozy while awake, and we even captured a few portraits with his mama’s stethoscope as a nod to her profession — she’s a surgeon in NYC!

His mama had seen a recent cake smash of mine with mint & navy balloons, and she loved the look and wanted to incorporate those colors into her son’s portraits, too. I love the variety here!

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