In the ’90s, it was Anne Geddes’s game: photographing naked newborns artfully curled up in pea pods or nestled in hollowed-out watermelons. A pioneer of pre-Internet Cute Overload, Geddes sold an estimated 19 million books worldwide, and, clearly, planted a seed. In the nearly two decades since her calendar- and stationery-spawning coffee-table book Down in the Garden debuted, a new era of newborn photo shoots has blossomed.

For parents past, newborn photos were often limited to those offered by some hospitals, with infants tucked into standard-issue pink-and-blue-striped blankets lying in their plexiglass cribs. Children’s photography tended to mean an annual awkward department store shot. Today, if you're getting married and you want to capture that day, you hire a wedding photographer. In a similar way, if you have a baby and you want to capture the baby and really have these beautiful mementos, then you need to hire someone to do that for you. Same goes for both family photo shoot and Babybauch, as they call it in German.

Dear moms-to-be. Here I am, offering my services as an inspired photographer for your maternity photo session. As simple as that. My passion is to create a wonderful experience at your portrait session that celebrates the memories, milestones and miracles of your family life, and what isn't the real miracle as not the very beautiful in her own mother-to-be? To create incredible images that freeze those moments in time for you to treasure forever - that's the task I'm very comfortable with and convenient to accomplish these days. So, I've prepared new backdrops and props for a spring photo shoot I'm organizing at my home, as well as 4 different dresses (pictured below) for maternity photography. It most probably will be indoor only until it's cold outside, and the location is Pfaeffikon SZ. Each session will take about 2 hours, and you'll get ALL the nice digital pictures we'll manage to capture afterwards (in my experience there will be around 40 of them). Feel free to bring your husbands and children - family pictures will be included as well! The cost is yet to be determined, but I'd say it's roughly 100 to 150 CHF.

And back to babies... Little toes, pursed lips, and tiny hands - newborn photography is very special, and I am actually eager to jump in. But as a mom myself, I understand clearly that working with and posing a 5- to 10-day-old infant demands special skills, as does keeping the child safe and the new parents comfortable, while capturing the subject’s raw and natural beauty. So, here's what I know and have so far:

So all I need now is a newborn baby :) Better two or more. And I'm asking here: are there any new moms willing to try this? We'll do it at my home in Pfaeffikon SZ, and I'm very flexible in time. We'll take pics of the baby itself, then with mommy, daddy, siblings and family pics of course. There will be 2 to 3 sets for family photos, and say... 8 sets for the baby. About the price... As I've never done it before I won't charge you a fortune, but I cannot either name the exact price since I'm not sure yet how it goes (pretty sure it's going to be fun but hard too). Say 100 to 150 CHF. Included are ALL the nice pictures (digital on a drive) I'll manage to capture (with my Christmas photo shoots there were around 50 photos per family). I'm also ready to print the best ones, to make birth announcement cards or a even a photo book on your request.  

Now, when I think about it, indeed, newborn shoots paint a picture of bliss and babies who actually sleep, rather than the torment of sleepless nights and spit-up. Ironically, that chaos is the precise reason why many moms invest in a newborn shoot, saying they want to capture the priceless, precious moments they may never clearly remember themselves. Now, looking back at my 3,5 year old daughter's pics I think wow, I will never see that baby again! She’s gone forever, and all I have are my pictures of her. (And herself of course, playing, running and screaming around while I'm writing this, but that's a different story to tell)