Maryland Newborn Photography // Turn Up The Heat!

Ask a central Marylander how they are today, and I guarantee you, somewhere in the first few sentences, you’ll hear the word “hot”. It is hot here right now. We may get all four seasons, but they sometimes get thrown at us randomly. Right now we’ve skipped right to mid-summer meltdown temperatures. The AC units are clicking on, the cars are baking, and the pools are hoppin’.

While a lot of people might bemoan the soaring temperatures, it’s never been something I’ve minded too much. Our cold winters do me in a lot more than our hot summers, so when I feel the make-up dripping off of my face, I try to remember that. At least it isn’t cold. Of course I still struggle like everyone else when it feels like an oven outside, but in the end, I would choose heat. It isn’t my worst enemy. In fact, I find heat to be downright useful sometimes. And one of those times, is during newborn sessions.

If you’ve ever booked a newborn session, especially if you’ve booked one with me, you’ll probably have heard that you should turn the heat up in your home before the photographer arrives. If your session was in a studio, you likely noticed that it was pretty toasty when you walked in. There is a reason for this! ​

And no, that reason is not to make you feel sweaty and uncomfortable in what is likely already an anxiety-ridden situation.

A baby spends ten (Yes, ten months. It’s time to stop pretending a pregnancy only lasts nine!) months curled up inside what is basically a small apartment kept at a fairly consistent 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Even if your baby was premature, they still started their life in the warmest, softest, happiest place imaginable. It may not have been a very peaceful time for you, but those months of pregnancy were pure heaven for your baby. ​​

Then all of a sudden, it ends.

Your baby goes from floating in a warm ocean to a cold, loud, bright world. No wonder they come out crying. That’s pretty harsh! Then, a big, bad photographer comes waltzing in and demands that they sleep and squish and pose for them. ​

So how do we get your baby to do what we want? We give them heat. Glorious heat. We make them feel just a little more at home by turning up the temperature. While all the adults in the room attempt to ignore the sweat they can feel collecting on their forehead, our little subject feels snuggled and safe. This leads to sleepy babies which leads to adorable poses, and sometimes adorable nakedness. (A Nelly tune is coming to mind here!) This isn't to say that heat automatically results in a sleeping baby. But it definitely helps. Warm newborns also tend to be more content when they are awake, so if you're looking for some bright eyed shots, it still isn't a bad idea to bring on the warmth.

If it’s winter when you are getting your newborn photos done, crank up that heat! If it’s summer time, turn the thermostat up way higher than you usually would do so it doesn’t turn on as often. Even then I still bring a space heater with me to every shoot, just in case. ​

Like I say to every client, if we aren’t sweating, it isn’t hot enough!