Some sessions stay with you long after the gallery has been delivered. Krista’s is one of them. Not just because the images are beautiful, though they really are. But because we got to document almost the entire journey together, from a powerful maternity shoot right through to a fresh 48 at home and then a full studio newborn session with the whole family. As a maternity and newborn photographer based in Cheshire, I always say that each stage of this journey deserves to be photographed. Krista and Otty are exactly why.

The Maternity Shoot | Maternity Photographer Cheshire

I’ve known Krista for a while. She’s a total business boss. The kind of person who brings energy into a room without trying. She runs, she trains, and her figure throughout pregnancy was genuinely incredible. I wanted a shoot that honoured that rather than softened it.

We went dark and dramatic. Deep warm background, controlled studio lighting, and Krista in a sharp black blazer worn open over black lace. Red lip. Gold chain. Head tilted back, completely owning it. No floaty fabric, no gentle pastels. Just her, exactly as she is.

The silhouette shots came out like paintings. Pure black backgrounds with just the curve of her shape emerging from the shadows. There’s one in particular where she’s standing side on, hands raised to her neck, chin lifted, and it is honestly one of my favourite images I have ever made. It doesn’t need any explanation. You just feel it.

This is what a maternity shoot can be when you let it reflect who you actually are rather than what you think it’s supposed to look like. Krista didn’t want soft and dreamy and that’s absolutely fine. Bold and powerful is just as beautiful.

If you’re thinking about what to wear for your own maternity session, I always say bring something that feels like you. For Krista that was a blazer and black lace. For someone else it might be a silk gown or a chunky knit. There’s no wrong answer.

Otty Had Other Plans

Krista was planning a home birth and I was on standby, quietly excited, camera ready. Then Otty arrived so fast there was no time to call anyone. He was just here. Which is, honestly, very on brand for a baby born to a woman who doesn’t hang about.

I was absolutely ecstatic when Krista invited me to come to them at home within 48 hours of his arrival. A fresh 48 session is something I love doing as a newborn photographer in Cheshire and it’s genuinely unlike anything else I offer. There is a quality to those first two days that simply cannot be recreated later. Mum still has that extraordinary post birth glow. Baby is brand new, scrunchy and soft and perfect in a way that changes almost by the hour. And the home itself tells part of the story too. The cot he’ll sleep in, the chair she’ll feed him in, the light coming through windows you’ll both know so well in the weeks to come.

We photographed Otty in his beautiful rattan cot in the living room, dressed in the most gorgeous knitted romper with his name on. His tiny fists curled up. His face still doing all that wonderful scrunchy newborn business. I got a close up of his little hands and chest in black and white that I keep coming back to. And then there’s the shot of his dad holding him against his bare chest, one huge hand cradling his tiny head, a wedding ring just visible. That one is pure instinct and pure love and I could look at it all day.

These are the images that make people cry years later. The good kind of cry. The best kind.

If you’ve never heard of a fresh 48 session before, it’s essentially a relaxed documentary style shoot in your own home in the first day or two after birth. No studio, no props, no formal posing. Just your family, your space, and your baby exactly as they are right at the very beginning.

The Full Studio Newborn Session | Newborn Photographer Cheshire

A few weeks later and the whole family came to me at my studio in Sandbach. Krista had mentioned she loves greens and deep oranges, so that became our palette. Rich, earthy, warm tones that felt completely right for Otty and for this family.

We started with solo shots of Otty. Wrapped in a deep burnt orange in a solid wooden crate, a tiny teddy tucked into his hands, completely peaceful and utterly perfect. Then we moved into a stunning shot of him on a deep olive green wrap against a dark background, where he decided he was very much awake and ready to look directly down the lens with the most serious expression. It’s brilliant. He is clearly already very aware of his own importance.

Then came the siblings. Otty’s big brother and sister, both with the most glorious curly hair, kneeling either side of a beautiful rattan basket with their baby brother inside. One of them is beaming. One of them is gently placing a hand on the basket. Otty has one arm raised like he’s trying to say something. It is completely chaotic and completely perfect and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.

If you’re planning a newborn session and wondering how to dress your older children for the studio, I have a whole blog post on that which is worth a read before you book: What to wear for a newborn session

And then the family portrait. All five of them together, warm tones, the two older children either side of dad who is holding Otty, mum just behind with the most genuinely happy smile on her face. It’s the kind of image that goes on the wall and stays there for decades.

Three Sessions, One Story

I think about the full arc of what we made together and it still gives me that feeling. A bold, dramatic maternity shoot that showed Krista at her most powerful. Raw, tender fresh 48 images made in the comfort of their own home just hours after Otty arrived. And then the full fine art studio experience with the complete family, styled and lit and crafted with care.

Three completely different sessions. Three different ways of seeing the same story.

If you’re pregnant right now and wondering whether to book a maternity shoot, a fresh 48 or a newborn session in Cheshire, my honest answer is always the same. More than one, if you possibly can. Because each one gives you something the others simply can’t. And together they tell the whole story of how your family began.

I’m a fine art newborn and maternity photographer based in Sandbach, Cheshire, covering Knutsford, Nantwich, Crewe, Wilmslow, Northwich, Congleton and the wider North West. If you’d like to talk about booking your own session, I’d love to hear from you.

Krista and Otty, thank you for letting me be part of it all.

Lisa x