In line with the reopening of my studio next week, I thought I would share how I will be working under the Government guidance for COVID-19. For me, it’s super important to reassure my new mums and dads. I will be doing everything that I can to make your newborn baby photography experience a safe one. But also one that you can still really enjoy too.
Standard Safety Practice
When working with babies of any young age, I often use hand sanitiser. It’s standard practice with newborn photographers. So this won’t be anything new to me, but I do ask that people entering my studio can also sanitise their hands on arrival too.
Although I no longer do much styled posing with baby – I will still of course need to handle baby and practice baby safety. And because of this I will be wearing a medical graded face mask.
My common practice is to always wash props – blankets and muslins, vests and outfits – in between sessions. As well as wiping down any other areas that we use too. It’s important to keep clean!
I only ever book 1 baby into my studio each day. I love photographing with natural light in the morning {and sometimes flash light if need be}. This will allow me time to get stuck into editing in the afternoon! And so with the COVID 19 guidance, this allows me to thoroughly clean the studio before anyone else visits the following day.
If anyone in your household is feeling poorly, I always suggest rescheduling. Poorly people don’t make for comfortable photographs! There’s nothing worse than feeling under the weather, so being part of the family photograph won’t be something you’ll enjoy. So if that’s the case – please get in touch and we’ll set a new date.
Access to my purpose built studio is down the side of my home. So there is no need to go through the house. However, toilet facilities are in my home should you need to use them. Fortunately, the toilet access is a room through the backdoor, so limited need to be in the house. As with accessing the studio – I simply ask that you sanitise your hands before entering and of course, washing hands when done!
New Measures
I will need to take a telephone number from you as part of the NHS Test and Trace, however, this will only be shared if need be.
To make sure I can get the angles and everyone in the frame of the photograph, I do need to help ‘pose’ parents. But I can show and describe to you what will work well.
I do not expect my clients to wear face coverings whilst having photographs. That really wouldn’t make the wall in your home! I can use the zoom on my lens to get in close so we can keep our social distance+.
At present, because I have a small cosy studio, I am limiting sessions to parents and baby ONLY. If there are sibling photographs you would like, we would need to discuss this. It can be done – but it will take some careful planning that would need to be pre-discussed and carefully arranged.
Usually I would provide a ‘mini afternoon tea’ style spread. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to provide hot drinks. However, I can provide bottled water and cake {pre-packaged!} so that you can still have a little snack during your session.
For now I will not be doing cake smash photography sessions, although I hope this will change soon. To keep in the loop with these sessions in particular, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to my newsletter for the latest news.
After Your Session
I would normally invite you back to my studio for a viewing and ordering session. However, to limit the need to visit and of contact, for now I am sending online galleries – password protected of course. Because of this, I suggest to parents to have a look at my studio samples during the photography session itself, rather than after. The bonus to an online gallery? You can share it with family and friends so they can see your beautiful photographs too.
I hope this helps to reassure parents that my studio will be as safe as it possibly can be. If you have any questions then you are welcome to contact me and I will be happy to help. I’m really looking forward to getting back to greeting gorgeous little newborns and babies again.
Smile, Jeni x
Jeni Lowe Photography
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