Newborn portraits of 18-day-old Florence | Oxfordshire Newborn Photography

Florence was born on 21 June at 12.31am, 40 minutes after arriving at the hospital following a mad dash from home. Her Bicester-based mum, Louise, brought her round to my studio two weeks later for a newborn photography shoot.

Florence’s dad is from Wales, so her parents have given her a beautiful Welsh middle name: Seren, which means star. Florence really is a little star: bright and curious when awake, sweet and snuggly when asleep.

Louise and I spent a relaxed few hours creating some adorable newborn portraits of Florence for her to see when she’s older, and for her parents to treasure forever. These are a handful of my favourites from our shoot:

The simplest portraits are often the best! In this image, Florence is snuggled up on a simple backdrop, with her perfect little fingers and toes wrapped in close.

In this head-on-hands pose, we get to see Florence’s beautiful face and features in an upright position. I love the shadows on the right side (as we’re looking at it) of Florence’s face, which adds depth and dimension to the portrait.

Next we switched to a mint/teal-coloured backdrop for a slightly different take on the head-on-hands pose, and a headband added as a finishing touch. I like this colour combination as it’s pretty without being a stereotypical pink (sorry, lovers of rose, salmon, coral and fuchsia – I’m not a fan!).

Swaddling a newborn is a great way to help settle them as it feels safe and familiar, like the constrictions of being in the womb. I wrapped Florence in this grey wrap to encourage her to drift off to sleep. I love the range of textures here, from Florence’s silky-smooth skin and the softness of the fabric and wool around her to the edges of the prop containing her and the planks on the floor beneath.

In this portrait, Florence appears to be soundly sleeping while cradled aloft in her mum’s hands. All is not quite how it seems though: to keep Florence safe, this image was taken while she was lying on a piece of black velvet on my purpose-built newborn beanbag. Please don’t try to replicate it in any other way!

Afterwards, Louise said:

“Thank you very much for the lovely photographs, they are so nice to have as a keepsake and to remember her newborn-ness. I really liked the experience just as much as the photos. I could relax, the baby was taken care of and happy and it felt very positive. Newborns can’t do much and are demanding so it was nice to do something with her in such a positive way.”

If you’re interested in newborn photography for your baby and would like to find out more, please get in contact by emailing [email protected] or submitting the form below:

Sarah Plater is a newborn portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography