London Ontario Newborn Lifestyle Photographer | Baby Eva

It was such a delight to photograph sweet baby Eva at home with her beautiful family. I’ve had the pleasure of documenting milestones for the Kucharski family since biggest sister Anya was a baby herself, and I feel so thankful to have been invited into this sweet family’s lives. Here are some favourites from Eva’s in-home newborn/family session.

London Ontario Newborn Lifestyle Photographer | Baby Zoe Makes 4

I love this family. My sweet friend Leah welcomed her beautiful baby girl, and I had the honour of documenting the four of them in their home (Special mention to big brother Asher’s curls…. ugh, I can’t handle the cuteness!). Here are some faves.

London Ontario Family Photography | Fall Family Session

I always say this, but I love getting to know families over time. This was my 2nd session with this gorgeous family (we’re up to three now, slowly catching up on my blogging!), and it’s so fun to see Cole growing up over the years. Such a handsome little dude, and such a beautiful family. Here are some favourites!

Best of 2018 Family Sessions | London Ontario Family Photographer

I wish you could have seen me putting this blog post together. First of all, it took a very long time. But most importantly, I smiled from ear to ear the entire time. So many beautiful families. So many favourites. So many. Some obvious ones that I previewed on social media and were stand-out favourites from the very beginning, and some that I had completely forgotten about, that for some reason didn’t really grab me during the editing process but made my heart sing during this yearly review.

As always, I feel the need to point out that my initial selection was so large it was ridiculous. In fact, one might argue that this selection is ridiculously lengthy. But I can only narrow them down so much, ya know? At the end of the day, whether a session appears in this compilation or not, I am so eternally grateful to each family that trusted me with capturing their memories - some for the first time in 2018, and some for the 8th time. It sounds so cliche, and we photographers like to throw around phrases like “I want to tell your story” and “capture your milestones” and “document your real life”… but it’s the truth. It’s why I do what I do.

Looking through all of these images made me so excited about the upcoming shooting season. For now though, I’m still reminiscing about the incredible year that was 2018. Here are some favourites!

Best of 2018 Newborn Lifestyle Sessions | London Ontario Photographer

I’m continuing my 2018 reminiscing this week with my favourite images from newborn lifestyle sessions - both in-home and in-hospital. I love capturing fresh babies in this simple, unobtrusive, organic way - in their element, surrounded by family, no frills. You’ll see lots of sibling interactions featured here as well, sometimes without the new baby present. I chose to include these images, as they are such a big component of newborn lifestyle sessions involving older siblings. Often while baby is being fed or soothed by one parent, the other parent is hanging with big brothers and/or sisters, and those candid interactions are just as precious. In these instances, I find myself travelling between rooms, capturing the quiet soothing in one and the enthusiastic play in the other. Here are my 2018 favourites.

London Ontario Family Photographer | Backyard Extended Family Session

I spent a lovely morning in this beautiful family’s backyard capturing extended family photos. I love seeing grandparents light up and interact with their grandbabies - especially that first grandchild that brings so much joy and totally changes the dynamic of the family. Here are a few favourites!

London Ontario Newborn Lifestyle Photographer | Baby Nathan

I’m sharing another sweet newborn lifestyle session on the blog today. I’ve had the pleasure of photographing Baby Nathan and his parents again since this session, and it’s almost hard to believe he was ever this tiny (isn’t that always how it goes?). I love this session, and I loved including Nathan’s older fur siblings in the photos as well. No shortage of love here! Here are some favourites.

London Ontario Photographer | Aimee's One-On-One Mentoring Session

I’ve been offering one-on-one mentoring sessions for other photographers on the down-lo for a little while. It’s not something I heavily advertise, but after being approached by several photographers regarding mentoring, I developed a few mentoring packages for those who are interested. I met my friend Aimee last year when she booked a mentoring session that included a shooting component as well as a follow up coffee date to go over any questions. We had amazing models and a gorgeous sunny evening that allowed us to focus on golden hour shooting and how to navigate the changing light from bright, hazy rays to that soft, warm glow right before sunset. We also chatted about posing and directing clients, how I like to draw out natural emotion and interactions from couples while shooting, and compared settings and framing as we worked. We even got to sneak in a sunset silhouette shot before heading out to chat about all of her questions - everything from my editing process, to how I structure pricing and mini sessions, to how I navigate difficult client situations and run my social media. Nothing was off limits. If there’s something I can share from my 9 year photography career that can help someone else, I’m an open book. :) I absolutely love chatting and connecting with other photographers, and Aimee has become a friend whose evolving style and growing business I have LOVED witnessing over the past 18 months or so. Do yourself a favour and check out her beautiful work here.

You can see some of the images I shot during our mentoring shoot below. If you’d like more info about the different one-on-one mentoring packages I offer, please don’t hesitate to reach out at sophie@rawfootagephotos.com, or by filling out the contact form.

Stratford Ontario Photographer | Cutajar Family Lifestyle Session

It feels like a million years ago since I first met and photographed Nadia, and I have since had the pleasure of documenting her growing family here and there during her visits to Canada from Egypt, where she lives with her sweet little crew. During one of these visits last year, we choose an in-between spot for us to meet for a session, which just so happened to be the gorgeous little town of Stratford, ON (aka one of my favourite places to shoot!). The sun was shining and the kids were full of energy. We had a blast walking around and letting the little ones be silly and playful and snuggly, just capturing them as they were. I loved looking back through this session while putting this blog post together, and hopefully I’ll be able to see this gorgeous bunch again soon!