The Comfort of Home: In-Home Newborn Photography Sessions

Welcoming a newborn into the world is one of life’s most cherished moments. As parents, capturing the innocence and beauty of your new baby is a priority. While outdoor locations and studios offer their own charm, there’s something uniquely special about an in-home newborn photography session. Your home, filled with personal touches and cozy corners, provides an intimate setting that tells the authentic story of your family’s first days together.

Newborns thrive in familiar environments and your home is where your baby feels most secure, surrounded by their family and the scents, sounds, and routines they’re beginning to know. For parents, staying at home also means avoiding the stress of packing up diapers, blankets, and bottles to travel to an unfamiliar location. You can take breaks whenever necessary and have everything you need within arm’s reach. Your home is also full of meaningful items—nursery decorations, heirlooms, and fur babies —that add depth to your photos. In-home sessions capture these personal touches, making your photos more authentic and emotionally rich. Years from now, these images will not only remind you of your newborn’s tiny features but also of the home where they first grew.

For my in-home newborn lifestyle sessions, I tend to focus more on natural moments rather than staged or overly posed shots. This approach brings a timeless quality to the photos. Candid shots of your baby sleeping in their crib, being cradled in your arms, or snuggling in their favorite blanket tell a more genuine story than posed studio setups. 

The most authentic moments come from moments that are completely candid and unstaged. During an in-home newborn session with Rachel, she took a break to breastfeed her baby, Millie. These turned into some of her favorite photos and after our session she shared something with me – “A few days before our shoot we found out Millie has a tongue and lip tie along with a few other problems that made it so she can’t efficiently nurse. The pictures you took of her was one of the last times we’ll breastfeed and something I’ll cherish forever. I really can’t thank you enough for that gift.” This was a completely unprompted and unposed moment in our session that turned into one of the most genuine that she will cherish forever.

One of the best things about in-home newborn photography is the ability to capture your baby and family in their natural environment. Whether your baby is sleeping soundly in their crib, being rocked in a glider, or lying peacefully on a bed, these moments are full of tenderness and rawness only an in-home session can create. While I focus mainly on natural and candid moments for these sessions, I incorporate posed photos as well and always direct my client’s as much, or as little, as they desire. The balance of posed and candid moments helps create a gallery of images that tells the complete story of your newborn’s first days. Whether it’s a candid shot of a sibling gently touching the baby’s face, or parents sharing a quiet moment while holding their newborn, these images emphasize the connection and bond that make your home feel complete.

Jackie reached out to me to help capture some images for her family after her daughter, Alexandra’s, arrival. I incorporated both my in-home studio-style set up, as well as an in-home lifestyle session and loved how they turned out! Baby Alex was on the older side of when I like to do my studio-style session – at 5 weeks old – but the photos turned out amazing nonetheless, with some special tricks up my sleeve. The neutral tones Jackie chose for her and her husband, really complimented the session for the main focus to be on baby. I always recommend very neutral, solid colors when it comes to these in-home sessions to not take away from the delicate nature of the newborn. Newborns are all about details, and when you add in a lot of bold, bright patterns and colors, it takes away from the delicacy I try to encompass in my images. 

An in-home newborn photography session is an intimate, personal, and stress-free way to document the early days of your baby’s life. By choosing to have the session in the comfort of your home, I can help create a space where everyone can feel relaxed and connected, which leads to more authentic and heartfelt photos. Whether you’re snuggling on the couch or rocking your baby to sleep, these are the moments you’ll want to remember forever—and there’s no better place to capture them than in your own home.