Name: Wee Boon Shing – Newborn Photographer in Asia

Representing: Mommy’s Photography Studio

# of Years Experience: 6

I love taking portrait photography since 2006 with my first DSLR camera. I started getting interest on baby photography after having my own baby on 2012. After taking physical newborn workshop I start photo others baby on 2017, I do photograph toddler below 1year and maternity portrait, and sometimes family photos. I love educate myself in new knowledge beside photography, I do learn business and marketing too and meet more entrepreneurs from different field.

My photography style more to clean and natural. Just like how newborn baby is.

Educate yourself on safety & knowledge in how to handle a newborn before starting. As every newborn is fragile, sometimes you could do something you really didn’t mean to do. Beside safety, you need to understand posing, angles, lighting as well as have a thorough understanding of your camera setting to begin with.

I’m currently using Canon 6D mark 2 with canon 24-70 2.8 lens, sometimes I will use sigma art 35mm 1.4

My home studio always my favourite places for any sessions, as for the space and warm natural light. But sometimes I do travel to client’s home or confinement centre too for their newborn session.

My first newborn mentor was by Lexis Ow from Singapore, in 2017. 2018 by Ana Brandt, and 2019 by Jade Gao.

We don’t promise what we can’t do, and we don’t hard sales any product from us. Communicate is the key to get smooth and success session.

Name: Rebecca Danzenbaker

Representing: Rebecca Danzenbaker Photography

# of Years Experience: 15

I started my photography business in 2008 and have been a full-time photographer since 2013. When I had to briefly shutter my photography business in 2020, I took advantage of the ample spare time to finally write the young adult novel I’d been making notes on for 10 years. Now I’m balancing my photography business with writing and loving both!

Focus on simple, neutral props that can be used for any gender and in a multiple of ways. Though I have dozens of bowls, boxes, and buckets, I use the same 8 or so in almost every session.

I finally switched to a mirrorless (Canon R6 mkii) this year, and wish I’d made the switch sooner! The focus is tack sharp in 99% of the photos I take now. For newborn sessions, I cycle between a 35mm, 100mm macro, and (to a lesser degree) a 50mm.

The best thing I ever did for my business was learn about SEO and take the time to implement best practices on my website. More than half of my website traffic comes from Google, and I rank #1 across many keywords for my local area (newborn photographer, family photographer, etc.). This helps me keep a full-schedule without doing a ton of social media marketing, so I have more free time to edit photos and work on the next novel!

I’m a low-volume photographer (2-3 sessions/week), so if one client decided not to buy a package, it was hard to pay the bills. After a client decided (despite loving her photos) not to purchase a single thing after her maternity session to “save money for her newborn session” with me, I made the decision to switch to all-in pricing. I do the same amount of work for each client, so I deserve to get paid the same amount from each client. This has SIGNIFICANTLY helped my family better budget and pay the bills! If we have added expenses one month, I add a session to help out. I’ve had many photographers point out that I’m leaving money on the table by not doing in-person sales, but I’m much happier having that extra time back and knowing how much I’m going to make from each session. Moral of the story: This is YOUR business. Do what works best for YOU! Just remember to price your work to fairly compensate yourself for the time spent away from being with the ones you love and all of the training you’ve put into honing your craft.

Name: Jennifer McNeil – Newborn Photographer in Southern California

Representing: Jennifer McNeil Photography

# of Years Experience: 17

I am a lover of coffee, a good book, and all things art. In my spare moments, I most often spend time outside with my children – riding bikes to the local coffee shop, doing arts and crafts or Lego, or snuggling up to read. I also enjoy yoga during my own time and small crafts to keep my hands busy while I veg out watching TV – like doodling or cross-stitch. When my nephew was born nearly 13 years ago, I fell completely in love. I was amazed by his tiny features and delicateness, all while he could scream so loudly! I spent a week with my sister helping out, and my main job was to soothe him. This gave me a sense of calm and peace and I immediately wanted to find work as a newborn photographer. Instead of going it alone, I worked for another company for 5 years which ended up being the best thing for me as it allowed me to gain a lot of skill and experience before adding newborns to my own business offerings.

Color is often my inspiration and I have a lot of it in my work. My goal is to bring joy to my images with the use of color, celebrating this time in the family’s life while they await, or welcome a new baby. My editing style is clean and simple, creating true to life colors in images that will be enjoyed for generations.

The most important thing to learn when beginning to photograph newborns is safety. I was fortunate enough to be trained in a hospital setting, surrounded by nurses who I utilized daily for guidance with safety and comfort of babies. Practice is the best thing to gain skill and confidence in such things as posing and wrapping a newborn in a swaddle – so learn what you can by reading or watching videos, then practice on a doll or baby. The foundations of swaddling and soothing have stayed with me for years and I definitely would not be where I am now without that strong foundation and repetitive practice.

I use a Canon 6D Mark II with a 24-70mm lens. This is my everything lens because of the amazing versatility it gives.

My studio is my absolute favorite place to be. Everything I need is within reach and we can be creative with styling. That said, I also love a silhouette against the sunset at the beautiful beaches of Southern California!

Knowing my hard costs and overhead expenses played a key part in determining what to charge in order to remain profitable. The pricing you set doesn’t have to make sense to anyone besides your business and your clients. I made sure to offer high quality, high value products as well, steering away from the shoot and burn model I began with, and that lead to increased sales and profitability as well.

Being self employed can be a roller coaster. My team is me, so when my personal life sends me a curveball, it’s easy to get sidetracked. This is a constant challenge that I am still working to overcome. What has helped is outsourcing tasks that can be done by others, and educating my children on what it means for me to run a business – and sometimes not be able to play. When I’ve felt most overwhelmed, I make a plan for a week or two out with my kids . It gives us all something to look forward to – then I can dedicate that time to them and not be distracted by my business.

My clients know they can trust me not only to create beautiful images but  to do so in a way that is safe and respectful to them, their body and their baby. I guide my clients every step of the way planning with them. I cover everything from the styling of each session, the timeline, and ultimately helping them determine the best way to enjoy the images. Sessions are long, but we take breaks, chat, laugh, and have a great time together as the time passes quickly. After everything is edited, we sit back down together for an ordering appointment. This is their chance to view all the images, choose their favorites, and select products. Every client comes away from the experience with tangible artwork that is ready to display.

Name: Marggie Duncan

Representing: BennyAni Photography

# of Years Experience: 7

I love to read!! In fact, I always have two books going at the same time. I’m always listening to one at work while I’m editing and then I have my Kindle that I read in my spare time. I bet I go through 4-6 books a month. It’s my escape from reality and allows me to shut my brain off.
My inspiration for newborn photography came when my career of being a labor and deliver nurse collided with my love of photography. The rest is history!

I am very simplistic, minimal. I like to keep my images timeless. Solid/neutral colors. I never want my clients to look back and think, “What the heck was I wearing?!”.

Keep going. But most importantly, remember this, if YOU don’t value yourself, NO ONE else will.

I’m all in studio!! I do have a gorgeous rooftop with white washed brick that I use in nice weather seasons but otherwise, I have a 2,000 sq foot studio that everything is shot in. I no longer travel to shoot.

Starting is hard. Keeping going is hard. But if you truly have a passion, it’ll show. Keep going. The key role in my success was and still is my customer service. Create and experience they will never forget.

Name: Amanda Capello

Representing: ACapello photography

# of Years Experience: 10

Hi! My name is Amanda. I am a maternity, newborn, and motherhood portrait photographer specializing in bold, black and white, minimalistic studio portraits. In my spare time I love to be a mom/ wife, do family life, and host friends for dinner or girls wine nights.

Newborn photography was one of the last genres I learned in my photography career, and by far the longest learning curve. I started as an assistant wedding and portrait photographer for my mom before she retired. I then began with portraits and eventually found a love for maternity portraits, especially as I experienced pregnancy and birth myself, the passion for capturing the magic of a women’s body grew. Also after two very difficult and traumatic pregnancy/ birth stories, my desire grew to capture this special time and these precious, and tiny beings, for mommas to look back on and cherish- I knew this was my niche.

My photography style is heavily inspired by simplicity. I only use monochromatic, white, black etc. I have a LOVE for Black and white portraits as well.
My photography style is unique, bold, empowering, classic, timeless, and clean.

I am inspired by shelly ferguson, nataliedmi_ph, and I am sure others! I am not sure how I found each of them but I love simplicity and I love searching the latest styles and scrolling Instagram , vogue/ magazines and searching for inspiration for different ideas for work.

Keep it simple. Things will trend out. The only thing that is important is the baby and the connection. Focus on that, and you cannot go wrong.

I use my canon r6 body and I love 35 mm for most works.

I love my studio. Its clean, white, classic and I am able to control all the elements. I have a client closet full of outfits that makes creating super fun!

I have taken many classes along the way. I highly recommend taking classes. Every course or video or study I have done, I take away knowledge to help me and my skills and my business grow. I have also read, studied, gone to shoot outs etc. I took a course from shelly Ferguson way back when and I am sure others. I also recently took Lindsay Adler course as well.

I am a former high school math teacher turned photographer. In between assisting my mom and starting my business, I went to school to be a teacher , got my masters and taught for a few years. I was a hobbyist photographer on the side. When I had my daughter, I became a stay at home mom. This is when my business started to boom. I had more time to focus on it and it grew to what I never could have imagined. My math background helps me with the business side of things and helped me to set up a profitable business model.

Growth is always a challenge. I wasn’t intending this to be my life career, but here I am, loving it. The turning point in my life when I had to make a decision if this was the goal for my life or if I was going to use my degree and go back to teaching/ become a principal and use my masters degree, was a turning point. I had to decide if I was ready to commit and open a commercial space or if I wanted to keep it as a hobbyist/ side gig. I jumped in feet first, and the rest is history.

Clients should expect clear communication, an enthusiastic photographer, full service experience including styling with client closet items, and photographers expertise in digital art and guidance with heirloom product selection.