I'm not going to lie, when I started out as a posed newborn photographer I was really worried about what would happen if I couldn't get a baby to sleep.
Those curled up posed images only happen when your little ones are in a deep deep sleep and with some babies that's easier said than done.

As time has gone by I have learnt the valuable lesson that actually, parents love the awake photos to.

Yes the aim is still to get them to sleep but if they don't, no worries, let's capture those gorgeous newborn eyes instead!

That's exactly what happened for the most part during Noah's newborn photo shoot.

When Noah and his family arrived, we started with some simple parent photos.
You do not have to hold a naked baby if you're not interested in playing 'pee roulette'. Instead we can use a nice neutral blanket (or colourful, it's your choice!) and wrap your little one up nice and snug.

parents holding their newborn baby in black and white

newborn baby boy in his mums arms, wrapped in a white blanket

Noah is the type of newborn that enjoyed being wrapped.

I can say that confidently because that was the only time he slept throughout his shoot!

During the planning stages, Noah's parents asked me if we could include an image with a little Yoda teddy.
Knowing this type of thing in advance is really handy because I can have a good think about the best way to use whatever you've chosen.

In this case I knew I had about three different shades of green wraps to choose from. When they arrived, I picked the best green and Voila! This gorgeous image was created.

newborn baby boy wrapped in green holding a toy yoda at his newborn baby photo shoot in hemel hempstead

From there, as he was enjoying being wrapped so much, I switched up the colours to a brown and also included a little teddy from my prop box.

sleeping newborn baby boy wrapped in a brown wrap at his newborn baby photo shoot in hemel hempstead

sleeping newborn baby boy wrapped in a brown wrap and holding a teddy at his newborn baby photo shoot in hemel hempstead

And then I unwrapped him...

At that point, Noah decided that was enough sleeping for one day and he was quite happy being awake from now on.

As I mentioned earlier, that's not a problem! Using different wraps, backdrops and textures I captured his little personality instead.

awake newborn baby boy covered in a cream blanket on a grey back drop

newborn baby boy laying on a white fluffy blanket

awake newborn baby boy  looking at the camera in black and white at his newborn baby photo shoot in hemel hempstead

Towards the end of his shoot he lured me into thinking he was drifting off to sleep again but don't worry, he was tricking us all along and was soon his wriggly self again!

sleeping newborn baby boy on a cream blanket wrapped in a white muslin

As always, I can't help myself but capture those little details. I just adore the images of his feet (taken right at the end during those fleeting sleepy moments) and also those gorgeous eyelashes.