Newborn safety has been on my mind the past few days, ever since I came across a heart-dropping photo of a newborn lying alone on a surfboard, floating in the ocean. It was beautiful, and the father was close by, but all I could think of were the ‘what ifs’…what if the baby startled suddenly and launched off the board? what if an unexpected wave came along? Call me a worrier (guilty!), but I’ve seen seemingly sound asleep babies make sudden, surprisingly strong moves often enough that I don’t take staying in one place for granted.
Newborn photography has gotten very popular, and that popularity has encouraged people to push their creativity. Sometimes, creativity has led to less than safe practices. Babies propped up in big glass jars, hanging from tree branches, or perched on high spots are all things I’ve seen lately that seem risky. What parents want are beautiful photos of their precious new baby, and that should always be a photographer’s priority. The temptation to view a baby as a prop, just so you can have a picture that goes viral on the internet, can lead photographers to ignore newborn safety.
While you’re looking for a photographer, ask questions about their practices to be sure they’ll handle your baby safely. There is a way to do some of these images- babies hanging in a sling, with their heads propped on their hands, etc- without compromising newborn safety. With the magic of Photoshop, photographers can composite images- have a parents’ hands on the baby at all times, but move them in between images and take more than one picture of the same scene. Then the two are merged in Photoshop, the parents’ hands are erased, and voila!
My goal is to always handle your baby with utmost care and gentleness, and to do all the little things to keep them safe- from using hand sanitizer often and staying within reach or having a spotter to having a whooping cough vaccine booster to keep them healthy.
It’s an honor to be trusted with these little ones, and how can you look into a little face like the one above and not want to do all you can to keep them safe? You can’t!
