A baby's first year is basically a year-long magic trick. One day they're a scrunched-up newborn who can't lift their own head. Then you blink and they're sitting up. Blink again and they're crawling. Before you know it they're walking and there's cake in their hair.
Each stage looks and feels completely different. That's why I recommend photos at specific points. Not to create a schedule, but because the baby you photograph at two weeks is a different person from the one you photograph at six months.
Here's what happens when.
Newborn: 5-14 days
This is the curled-up, sleepy, brand-new stage. Baby still has that newborn scrunch. They sleep deeply. They can be posed gently. The photos from this window have a quality that's impossible to replicate later. A kind of peaceful stillness that disappears once they start uncurling and noticing the world.
What you get: soft, intimate portraits, detail shots of hands and feet and eyelashes, family photos where the baby is the tiny centre of everything.
Sitter session: 6-8 months
This is my favourite age to photograph. Genuinely.
Babies at this stage can sit up unassisted but can't crawl away yet. They're alert, curious, and massively expressive. Everything is funny. A scrunched-up piece of paper is the most fascinating thing they've ever seen. They grin at you with two tiny teeth and you forget how to breathe.
They can't run, which means you get eye contact. And they're chubby in that particular way babies get around six months. Rolls on the thighs, cheeks like apples, wrists with lines like they're wearing invisible bracelets.
What you get: personality, big smiles, chunky baby goodness, photos that capture the sheer joy of a baby discovering the world.
Crawler / standing: 9-11 months
This is the chaos stage. They're mobile. They're fast. They have opinions about everything and they're not afraid to express them.
Photos at this age are less posed and more documentary. Them pulling up on furniture. Exploring. Laughing at the dog. Crying because you took away the remote control. It's real life, and real life at this age is messy and brilliant.
What you get: action shots, personality in motion, the beginning of independence. These photos have an energy that newborn and sitter sessions don't. They show your baby becoming a small person with their own ideas about how things should go.
First birthday: 12 months
The cake smash is the obvious one, but not everyone wants coloured icing smeared across their floor. Fair enough.
An alternative is a simple portrait session. Your baby at one. Standing, maybe taking those first wobbly steps. The same hands that were curled into fists a year ago are now grabbing everything in reach. The same feet that were the size of your thumb are now stomping around in tiny shoes.
A first birthday shoot is less about the milestone itself and more about how far you've all come. A bookend to the newborn session. Same child, completely different human.
What you get: a portrait of your baby at one year old, confident, mobile, full of personality. The closing chapter of a wild twelve months.
Why more than one session
I know booking four sessions in a year sounds intense. Most people do two, newborn and sitter, and that's plenty. But the families who book multiple stages always tell me the same thing: they can't believe how much changed between each one.
A newborn photo and a first birthday photo, side by side, tells a story no single session ever could. Same child. Same family. A year of becoming.
The practical bit
I offer a First Year Collection that covers newborn, sitter, and first birthday sessions at a bundled rate. You lock in the dates in advance and I flex around any changes. Life with a baby doesn't run on schedule and neither do I.
You can also book individual sessions whenever you want. No minimum. No pressure to commit to more than you need.
Just putting this out there
You'll never regret having too many photos of this year. You might regret having too few.
I know the days feel long right now. But the years are genuinely short, and the baby who falls asleep on your chest tonight will be walking and talking before you know it. If you're on the fence about booking a session, book it. You won't look back and wish you'd taken fewer photos.
The First Year Collection and individual milestone sessions are available across Greater Manchester and the North West. Get in touch to chat about timing, pricing, or anything else on your mind.