Newborn Photography: Lifestyle Portraiture in Bergen County, NJ

Category Archives: Newborn Photography

Baby’s First Year Photography Package

From wrinkly sleepy newborns to coos of alert babies to toothless grins of mischievous almost-toddlers; learning how to sit up and how to walk, the first year of your child’s life is full of amazing milestones. As a Mom I captured these milestones of my own children and I would love you to be able to have these memories captured as well. And that’s how the idea of my Baby’s First Year Plan was born.

Baby Plan membership fee covers sessions during the first thirteen months of your baby’s life. It is $2500 and includes:

Two weekday Signature Sessions and a $750 print credit for each session – total credit of $1500
One studio all-inclusive Milestone Baby session (optional upgrade to a family session is available)
One 11×14 canvas for every session held during the Baby Plan period
One set of 25 birth announcements or holiday cards
Priority Booking for Annual Free Holiday Studio Mini Sessions (includes a complimentary mini session and one digital image)

With a Baby Plan you can add the following optional add-ons to the package:

All-inclusive Studio Maternity Mini Session – $400
Optional unlimited all-inclusive Studio Milestone mini sessions – $500 each

With a Baby Plan, between canvases and custom cards you receive over $1350 worth of boutique goodies!

Because of the amount of time invested in each Baby Fist Year Plan, I will be taking only a limited number of Baby Planners a year. So if this sounds like something you would like to do, reach out to me ASAP to book your spot! And then start thinking about where you will be displaying beautiful canvases that you will receive with each session!

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And a baby makes four | Ridgewood studio newborn photo session

These guys may look familiar to you – this is not their first appearance on this blog. I first met them when Mom was pregnant with their first girl – M. about 5 years ago and we’ve had many many many sessions together since then. I’ve had the privilege of documenting M. change from a newborn to a baby to a precocious toddler to a funny little girl. I love her and she loves me back – she wants to have dinner with me and my family, is excited to come to see me at the studio, gets sad when she misses me at their viewing and ordering sessions. She makes me laugh every single time I see her!

But this post is not about M. it is about her little sister! I was beyond thrilled when I found out these guys were expecting and even more thrilled when I found out that it was another girl – having two daughters myself and having a sister makes me a bit partial to families with two daughters:) Little sister, Meredith, was as perfect and beautiful as her big sister was at this age! For the first few minutes when I saw her I could not do anything other that awww and ohhhhh over her:)

We chose to do this combo newborn/family photo session at my Ridgewood studio. Big sister M. and her Dad were coming to the studio a bit later in the session to give me time to capture images of the latest addition all by herself. At the beginning of the session she was hungry (she IS a growing baby after all!) so while her Mom was nursing we had a chance to catch up. And once she was fed, changed and happy (I always built in time in my newborn sessions for all these activities) we started with the session. We got some open-eyed shots – how beautiful are these baby blues?!

and of course we got plenty of cuddly sleepy newborn images so many parents want and love:

I always capture details shots of babies – delicate little fingers and toes, wispy eye lashes, beautiful lips:

and when the Dad came to the studio we got some pictures of the parents together with their new bundle of joy:

of course there were pictures of Mom with baby Meredith:

and Dad with the brand new baby:

Being a mom of two girls I just had to capture this beautiful Mom with her daughters:

and I loved capturing the interactions between these girls – Meredith was just a bit over two weeks old at the time of the session but she was incredibly aware with great eye contact! I cannot wait to capture the relationships and love between these two sisters as they grow up together.

and of course there were plenty of pictures of these guys together as a family of four!

If you are expecting and would like to have a newborn family photo session my Ridgewood photography studio is a perfect plan to do it!

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Bergen county at home newborn photo session

Are you expecting a new bundle of joy and wondering what’s the best time to hold a newborn photo session? You may’ve heard that you need to do a newborn session as soon as possible after the baby is born – usually within first 10 days. And I would definitely agree with that – if you would like to have sleepy cuddly posed baby images, that is. A few days after the birth babies are still sleeping most of the time (although for a lot of them this sleeping occurs mostly during daytime hours and not at night!), are very moldable and that’s a perfect time to capture beautiful images of sleeping newborns.

My Bergen county photography studio, located in Ridgewood, is perfect for these types of sessions – it has great natural light (and studio lighting equipment for cloudy days), lots of space for everybody to spread out and plenty of props to choose from. With these sessions I focus primary on the baby (and capture all beautiful details of them!) but there are also plenty of images with parents, brothers and sisters and a grandparents if they are there for the session.

If posed studio newborn images are not what you are looking for, then a great alternative is an at-home lifestyle photo session. These photo sessions are very different from Ridgewood studio newborn sessions that I offer. With these sessions the focus is on the family – snuggling up with the new baby in the family room, rocking her to sleep in her nursery, hanging out on a big family bed together. If you spent time setting up and decorating the baby’s nursery, if you have special meaningful pieces of furniture or art that you would like to include in the session – this is a great session to do that. And if you have other children then this is the session I would definitely recommend over a studio newborn session because we would also be able to capture your other kid(s) in their natural habitat – playing with their toys, reading their favorite books, monkeying around – and doing all their favorite things. Think of this session as a family session with a newborn focus:)

I recommend scheduling lifestyle family photo sessions about 6-8 weeks after the baby is born. By this time the baby is more alert and awake and makes more eye contact and has a lot more personality. Some of them even smile when they look at their parent – and who would not want to capture their babies first smiles on camera?! Waiting a bit after the birth also gives parents (especially the Moms) a bit more time to recover from delivery and get settled into a life with a newborn.

So the type of a newborn photo session you should choose really depends on the type of images you would like me to capture. But I promise you that you will be happy with the results no matter the session type:)

This Ridgewood family opted for an at-home lifestyle photo session at their home. We were going back and forth about the timing of it and in the end they took my advice and scheduled it for when baby G. was about 8 weeks old. The parents absolutely loved the images we captured!

There was lots of laughter:

and snuggles:

There were beautiful moments shared between these parents:

and a stunning little girl:

There was plenty of time for big brother G. to play with his dad:

and some quality Daddy/Daughter time:

and there was enough time hang out and read together as a family of four:

I absolutely loved meeting this family for their Ridgewood family session and cannot wait to watch these kids grow!

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Best of 2016 Contest | Bergen County Photography

It is time for one of my favorite business traditions – Live Love Laugh Photo’s annual “Best of the Year” Contest! I’ve been holding this contest for EIGHT years; I love being able to give back to my clients through this contest, and each year they tell me how much they appreciate me conducting it!

I took thousands pictures last year and had to enlist my trusty friends in the photography business to help me narrow down images to the top 30. Now it is up to you to decide which image gets the title of the Image of the Year at Live Love Laugh Photos – and the grand prize that goes along with it:)

THERE WILL BE FOUR WINNERS:

1) The image with the most votes wins. To vote, cast your vote using the poll below (scroll all the way down to the end of the post, past images) and ‘like’ your favorite image in the ‘Best of 2016′ album on Facebook and on Instagram. The winner (an image with the most combined votes) will receive a 16×24 gallery wrapped canvas (valued at $500) of the winning image.

2) The Runner up will receive a $250 gift certificate to be used towards a Simplicity or a Signature session in 2017.

3) TWO random voters will receive a FREE kids winter studio mini session valued at $300! It can be YOU! See below on how to enter in a drawing for a mini session.

HOW TO WIN A STUDIO MINI SESSION:

There are THREE ways to win a mini session. In order to increase your chances of winning you should do all of the following:

Leave a comment on the blog describing why YOU want to win a mini session – scroll below the images to do that.
Share the ‘Best of 2016‘ album on Facebook – here is a link to it. To do so just click on the ‘Share’ link to share it on your wall. You can write a nice comment as well:) Just make sure you let me know that you shared the album – otherwise I won’t know that you did and you won’t be able to participate in the drawing.
Follow Live Love Laugh Photos on Instagram.

I will randomly select two lucky voters from across all three platforms and these guys will receive mini sessions!

BONUS:

Everyone is a winner because if you book a new Simplicity or Signature Session while the contest is running (by February 13) you will receive a free gift valued at $150 with your order! So if you are thinking about having a session with Live Love Laugh Photos anytime in 2017, NOW is a great time to book. Keep in mind you can hold your session anytime in 2017.

Please note:

Voting will run till the end of day on Saturday, February 13.
I will announce the winners on the blog on Sunday, February 14.
Please keep things fair and vote only for one image – IP addresses will be monitored.
I reserve the right to disqualify entries or terminate/modify contest if necessary.
This content is not sponsored by Facebook.

And now without further ado, I present to you my favorite images of 2016! Check out the finalists, cast your vote (using radio buttons below all images, FB and Instagram) and leave a comment below for the free session drawing.

Image 1: A Hug for Mommy

Image 2: Beautiful Smile Image 3: Double Trouble Double Joy

Image 4: Duckies

Image 5: Fall Family Portrait

Image 6: Good Times

Image 7: Movie Star

Image 8: Boys and Their Dog

Image 9: Family Portrait

Image 10: Tickles With Mommy

Image 11: All Grown Up

Image 12: What Are YOU Reading?

Image 13: Being Silly

Image 14: He Is SO Loved!

Image 15: Stella

Image 16: Through The Leaves

Image 17: At The Farm

Image 18: Have A Cookie

Image 19: Mr Blue Eyes

Image 20: Hug

Image 21: Chatting With Daddy

Image 22: Santa Baby

Image 23: Hollywood Glamour

Image 24: Wishing Upon A Star

Image 25: I Love You THIS Much!

Image 26: Summer Fun

Image 27: Best Dressed

Image 28: Growing Up

Image 29: Sisters

Image 30: Pretty In Pink

Show Hide 32 comments

aerin taubin - love this shot, you’re the best!
George Anthony siller - Pretty in Pink # 30 is beyond cute.. love that smile..!!
Gene - Great Photo
Christina - Love pic number 21 of my friends! You do a beautiful job! How nice it would be to win the mini session. 🙂
Genevieve - Lovely photos! Hoping to win a free mini session with you!
Lotraine - All beautiful photos. Hard to pick one among all these beauties.
Mony - Beautiful pics!!
Vincent archer - Beautiful photo
Juliana Napalit - I would love to win a mini photo session!! My three beautiful girls are 6, 3 and 2 and my youngest is almost not a baby anymore!! I have three gorgeous matching dresses for them and it won’t be long before I can no longer get them to all wear the same thing! I would love to have them photographed one more time at this innocent, little age!! I’ve tried taking my own photos of them but they’ve come out so poorly. Your work is amazing!! Thank you for your time.
Karla - Love pretty in pink!!❤????
Adriana De Cesare - Gorgeous in pink! 🙂 Good luck little princess!
Alla Train - pick me
Elizabeth Bram - Love the anti-bullying message!
Val Saalbach - Stunning!
Barbara - Beautiful In Pink!
Laura Goebel - You’re such a Daddy-O, Colin!
Patti M Blasini - The most precious!
Robin - Lovely!
Dharmangi - She looks amazing!!!! MOVIE STAR all the way
Jodi - Love the movie star pic. She is adorable
Cathi S - Rising Star!!
Caroline - love our silly pic!
Katie Kashmanian - Love it!!
Janet payot - I love the natural images that Lena captures. The children look they are having a great time. What a memory to have in years to come.
Matt Debes - What a great picture!
sue zimmer - cute!
Allison - My beautiful daughter, son in law and grand daughters. Perfection!
Liz coughlin - #24 sweet Grace!
Elvira pinkhas - Would love a mini session for my family because it’s a busy life and kids grow so fast
Laura - Beautiful
Veronica Siller - Love my Pretty in Pink baby…the youngest of my 3 girls! You captured pure happiness in this picture! Her eyes just pop and I can’t take her cute blond curls! THANK YOU!!! xo
Emily Pancer - It’s so hard to choose just 1 of Lena’s photos! There are so many I love! Ultimately, since I know Dani and that was definitely one of my faves, I went with that one. Can’t wait to see which one wins!

Sweet baby boy | Wyckoff newborn photo session

At 8 weeks at the time of his photoshoot E. was, what photographers consider, an ‘older’ newborn’. A lot of newborn photographers would tell you that the best time for a newborn session is as close to the birth as possibly – usually within first 10 days. And I do tell this to my clients as well – when they want to get typical posed newborn images. And while I love squishy sleepy newborns, as a photographer who is known for her lifestyle family work, I have to say that I love lifestyle family sessions with older newborns. When babies are between 6 and 10 weeks they are beginning to loose their ‘newborn’ look but instead they are a lot more aware, awake and their personality definitely shows. Having a session a few weeks after the birth also gives new parents some time to get used to having a baby (and not sleeping at night!) and time for Moms to recover.

From the moment I walked into their Wyckoff home for an at-home newborn photo session I could feel how special these guys were. From little personal touches everywhere in their home to the way they looked at their beautiful baby boy – you could almost feel love in the air! It was grey and rainy outside that day but inside their home it was warm, loving and cozy. I loved baby E. Disney inspired nursery with adorable prints, lots of special toys and a hand made sign post.

In the pre-session questionnaire this Mom told me that E.’s Dad could make me smile and he did just that – it was so special to see their bond and E.s dimply gummy smile! This guy was just 2 months old but he had his parents and grandparents wrapped around his perfect little fingers! I loved creating first family portraits for this family of three and capturing baby E. with his adoring grandparents. And I cannot wait to photograph them again in the future!