i wrote the post below for the creative mama today, but wanted to share it here as well. i feel it’s so very important that information regarding newborn safety in photography gets to as many photographers as possible. please pass it on!!
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It seems that there’s a lot of talk happening right now regarding newborn safety, in regards to photography. And honestly, it’s about time!!! Yesterday, a friend who is trying to spread the message of newborn safety, shared on her facebook wall, a photograph [from another photographer] of a newborn in a glass vase that looked very unsafe and quite scary! As the photography industry becomes more and more saturated with photographers [many getting into business well before they're ready], I’m afraid this unsafe newborn posing might also continue to occur more and more. This message needs to be spread –no matter who we’re photographing, photographers need to have safety as their number one priority.
Please know that professional newborn photographers, such as Baby As Art and Kelly Ryden Photography, always have newborn safety as their ultimate priority. These photographers have many, many years of experience, work as a team and they have the art of posing newborns and editing in Photoshop mastered.
Jodie Otte recently wrote this great article on newborn safety, along with sharing some behind-the-scenes photographs, showing how this baby on a guitar is actually a composite of a couple different photographs. Never was this baby balanced on this guitar alone, without the assistance of someone else. Please refer to Jodie’s article in it’s entirety, for additional newborn safety information and behind-the-scenes images.
And this article by Shoot Baby shares additional [frequently attempted] newborn poses, along with how the photographs were achieved, by combining multiple images in Adobe Photoshop.
Parents — if you don’t feel it’s safe, you don’t think it’s right, it doesn’t make sense or you’re simply not comfortable with something during a photo session, please stop the photographer immediately. Always remember that you have commissioned the photographer; he or she is working for you!
ETA: if you’re going to pose a newborn in a bowl, in a basket, hanging in fabric, etc., you need to do it WELL — along with the baby being kept completely safe and comfortable at all times! with that being said, i just don’t understand poses like sticking a newborn in a glass vase filled with gum balls [even when done well]. i know and appreciate that photographers have their own creative style, but some of the things photographers are doing with newborns these days just doesn’t make sense to me [and often is not even done well, nor seems to be done safely].
and if you put your photograph out there [to the public], it’s important to be open to feedback — both positive and constructive criticism. know why you’re creating the photographs you’re creating and be sure it’s for more than competing with other photographers.
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such an important article……. thanx for sharing it! i agree whole heartedly.
I am new to the business and that picture made me shudder. I wouldn’t pose any baby like that… heck if I don’t do it with my own kids why take chances with someone else’s.
I don’t know if it’s ignorance because if you spend one day reading blogs, manuals you know it’s a composite or just sheer idiocy. I am studying to get my PPA certification and I wish there was a mandatory certification process before people call themselves pro. If we want people to respect our work we have to show our respect to the profession first. By following safety guidelines, registering our business, paying taxes and pricing accordingly.
Sorry for using your blog as a soap box, it just gets frustrating sometimes
well said deb. i don’t do newborn photography (in the traditional sense) anymore… i just never found them to be my style and i prefer babies in their parent’s arms, nicely swaddled like burritos. But yes, it seems like this trend of posing babies in all kinds of strange ways has grown and it is very concerning. The photographers have a responsibility of course, but parents need to be educated too. I can’t imagine what the parent of the gumball vase newborn baby was thinking? When it comes to your children, don’t trust blindly, if you have any kind of doubt, speak up! Be it a doctor, a teacher or even a professional photographer. Just say NO.
Photographers now days who think up these crazy ideas for newborn photo shoots are scary people! seriously a gumball vase? or any vase at all? One question to all who do off the wall crazy freaking photos of a precious little baby, WHY? If you want to run with your out of this world creativitiy don’t use little newborn babies for your test tube photos ! Ignorant and not a professional doing this with a baby and to the parents who allow some total idiotic stranger who has some high priced camera to do these crazy photos of your very new babies and then to pay them out ragious rates for dangering your child just so they can look like they are better or more creative than others, well your just as sick as the person who thought to stick your baby in a dang vase to shoot a pic or for putting your new baby in or on anything other than a soft blanket in your arms or normal photo for Holy Cripes! Too all you so called baby Photographers who thinks being creative with a persons newborn baby is your meal ticket, you need to check yourself.
Great and important post Deb! I agree 100%… Mind if I link this on my FB page?
It is important to list this, not only for professional photographers, but for the people with Point and Shoots or new DSLRs that want to get a cute picture of their baby (or their friends’ babies) that looks like something they saw in a magazine.
The shot where the woman is holding the baby’s head totally scares me, even though it’s safer than nothing, I am always so worried about supporting their heads and necks that I likely would err on the side of “boring”. Not to mention, I could totally see someone trying to recreate the pose without having someone support the baby.
That said I love the branch shot, it looks more like art, and I think most people would realize this photo was manipulated to create it. The guitar shot is too eerie for me, living in California, I’d be freaked out and worried that we’d have an earthquake and all of the straps etc. would be a moot point.
please share!!
great writeup deb. im with susan. the guitar shot is a bit weird. i understand newborn photogs trying to get creative and pushing the envelope, but sometimes, i just dont get it. im glad the photographer took the necessary safety precautions. and i understand that this is art. but to me, it’s no different from putting a baby in a suitcase, teacup, bowl, etc.
i’m loving the safety discussion happening lately. better taste in general would lead to less dangerous baby posing!
Great article, I hope it spreads to the masses. I agree with the former posters about the guitar though – I don’t see how that’s better or makes more sense than gumballs – they both aren’t natural although it is an excellent photo.
very goooooooooooood
Great article and something that defiintely needed to be said.
I couldnt help but google newborn gumballs images and found some OMG!!! There was even one in a tall [wine glass styled] vase WTH?!
Then I scrolled and saw a 9ish-month-old sitting up next to a gumball machine with gumballs scattered all around her, well within her reach… I have a six year old which I think qualifies me with enough common sense to know that’s just plain nuts! Perhaps a working-with-children common-sense course needs to be developed before someone’s child really gets hurt.
Thanks for the article