All at Once: New Collections for Richmond Parents

Most new parents book me twice and then disappear for a while. Maternity photos in the third trimester, newborn photos two weeks after the baby comes home, and then life takes over, which is completely fair. Somewhere around ten months, I get an email that starts with "I can't believe I let this much time go by."

That's the reason I put together the First Year Collections. Booking maternity, newborn, milestone and first birthday sessions as a set means the dates are already handled before the sleep deprivation sets in, and it costs less than booking them one at a time.

Here's how they work.

The three collections

Welcome, Baby: $695 (a $775 value)

Maternity plus newborn. This is the pair almost everyone books anyway, so if you're not sure how much photography you want in year one, start here. You get the 1.5 hour maternity session with 25+ edited photos, the two to three hour in-home newborn session with 20+ edited photos, online galleries for both, and personal printing rights. Saves you $80 over booking them separately.

First Year Essentials: $950 (a $1,075 value)

Maternity, newborn, and the cake smash and first birthday session. The bookend collection: the pregnancy, the brand-new baby, and the one-year-old, in three sessions, with $125 in savings.

Complete First Year: $1,150 (a $1,525 value)

All four sessions plus a 20-page premium album drawn from every one of them. This is where the math gets hard to argue with. You save $375, and the album is the part parents tell me later they're glad they have. It's the only version of the year that lives on a shelf instead of a phone.

What each session actually looks like

Maternity, 28 to 36 weeks. Late enough that the bump is unmistakable, early enough that you're still comfortable on your feet. Bring two outfits. A flowing gown and something simple both photograph beautifully, and having options takes the pressure off. One location, indoor or outdoor, your call.

Newborn, 5 to 14 days after birth. In your home, not a studio. Newborns still curl into themselves in those first two weeks and sleep through most of the session, which is exactly what you want. We work around feeds and naps, so it runs two to three hours and never feels rushed. Siblings and family photos are included, because everyone wants at least one picture with the whole household in the frame.

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Milestone, 3 to 9 months. Forty-five minutes, in-home or at one outdoor location. The six-month sitter session is the one parents are most glad they booked: baby sitting up unassisted, making real eye contact, not yet mobile enough to crawl out of frame. Three and nine months work well too, and you pick the one that fits your baby.

Cake smash and first birthday, 11 to 13 months. Clean portraits first, outfit intact, while everyone is still fresh. Then the cake, and it goes how it goes. You bring the cake and the outfit. I handle the backdrop, the setup, and the cleanup.

Booking windows, and what happens if the baby has other plans

Each session has a window. Maternity falls between 28 and 36 weeks, newborn between 5 and 14 days after birth, milestone between 3 and 9 months, cake smash between 11 and 13 months. We schedule the maternity session for a specific date and pencil in the rest, then firm them up as you go. Newborn dates are always approximate until the baby arrives, so I keep flexibility in my calendar for exactly that reason.

If the baby comes early and we never get to the maternity session, that session converts to a milestone session at no charge. Nobody loses anything for a fast labor.

Collections are valid for 18 months from the date of your maternity session, which is plenty of runway even if a session gets pushed.

Payment

A $300 non-refundable deposit books the collection. The remaining balance is split into equal monthly payments and paid in full before your final session. So the Complete First Year works out to a few hundred up front and manageable monthly payments spread across a year you're already spending a lot of money in.

The deposit is non-refundable, but if a session genuinely can't happen, its value converts to gallery, print or album credit rather than evaporating. Collections are non-transferable.

Travel

Newborn and milestone sessions happen in your home anywhere in the Richmond metro area at no extra cost. Beyond that, travel is $100 per 50 miles round trip, rounded up. If you're in Hampton Roads, Williamsburg or somewhere in between, tell me where and I'll quote it before you book, so there are no surprises on the invoice.

Booking one at a time is fine too

Not everyone wants to commit to a year of photography while they're still deciding on a name. Every session is available on its own:

• Maternity: $350
• Newborn: $425
• Milestone (3, 6 or 9 months): $250
• Cake smash and first birthday: $300
• Family session: starting at $325 for an hour

Book the maternity session now and add the rest later if you want. The collections exist for the discount and the convenience, not because it's the only way in.

What you get either way

Every gallery is delivered online with high-resolution and web-size downloads, no watermarks and no paywalls. Sharing is a link, not a login. Every photo gets professional color, exposure and cleanup. Polished, not overdone. Galleries live in your private client portal alongside prep materials, questionnaires and print ordering, so you're not hunting through old emails for a link when your mother-in-law asks for it again.

I also shoot film alongside digital, and when film coverage is included or added on, those frames get blended into your digital gallery so the whole thing feels like one set of pictures rather than two.

Ready to talk?

If you're due in the next several months, the maternity window comes up faster than you'd think. Reach out with your due date and I'll tell you which weeks we should be aiming for and what the calendar looks like.