Tag Archives: Baby

Capturing the Older Baby

By Kat Knuth, Longmont Newborn Photographer

When booking a newborn photography client as a Longmont newborn and family photographer, I usually recommend that parents schedule their sessions between 4-12 days after birth to capture that all too fleeting newborn look. Truthfully, I can work with babies of any age, but this is a great window to start with! However, I adored the challenge or working with an older baby in this newborn photography session! He was about five weeks old and his parents were so kind and welcoming. I knew we would create beautiful art together as I photographed their sweet family.

Longmont Newborn Photographer
A Growing Family! Longmont, CO


Working in the living room this time, I set up a simple set that reflected what I observed in the home. Mom and dad seemed to enjoy spending time outside (and who wouldn’t? Longmont, Colorado, and neighboring areas are just so gorgeous!) so we selected an adorable knit fisherman outfit out for their son to wear.


Longmont Newborn Photographer
A Sleepy Fisherman – Longmont, CO


Older babies are often harder to keep asleep during their newborn photography sessions. They’re developmentally more interested in their environments now and staying awake to see what’s happening! But, with a cozy warm house and being wrapped up, this Longmont baby was more than happy to oblige me with some dreamy, sleepy poses.

Longmont Newborn Photographer
Sweet, simple, and gorgeous – Longmont, CO
Longmont Newborn Photographer
My favorite details – Longmont, CO


My favorite shots from this session are by far the simplest. Laying this newborn boy against my gray posing cushion and wrapping him in a white cloth, I was able to capture his details without any distracting elements. When he began to wake, I switched to let mom and dad hold him. I loved watching their connection as they held and interacted with their son and with each other. It was so beautiful and reminded me why I do what I do as a Longmont newborn and family photographer.

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Meeting the Perfect Baby – Longmont, CO

By Kat Knuth, Longmont Newborn and Family Photographer


When I prepare my Longmont newborn photography clients, I give them a few pieces of advice to make their session an absolute success. These are my top three little tidbits:

  1. Keep your house warm. At the time of this session, we were riding out a heat wave. Easy peasy.
  2. Pick out a few momentos, heirlooms, or special outfits for the session. Your newborn photos will be so much more meaningful than they already are if they have that little something extra.
  3. Relax. These sessions take a while. Newborns are so sweetly sensitive to changes in their environment. I’m an invader and babies usually intuit that I’m a new presence. I’m here to work around their schedule, whether they need to eat, get a new diaper, or get rocked to sleep again and again. I have all the time to wait and I’m more than happy to do so!

So, once everyone is prepared, I show up and get to work. This little lady was one of the most cooperative newborns I’ve ever photographed. While mom nursed her when I arrived, her big brother showed me his room. I was instantly charmed and fell a little in love with him on the spot. Leading him back to his parents, I asked him to pick out a headband for his sister wear during the shoot. I also let him pick out the color wrap she would be swaddled in. Once we settled on an oversized white flower and a dusty purple wrap, I started with the lifestyle poses, then moved on to the posed newborn photography shots. This lovely newborn girl was so cooperative and I was able to get some very, very sweet shots with her.

Longmont Newborn Photographer
An absolute angel baby! Longmont, CO
Longmont Newborn Photographer
Sweet baby feet – Longmont, CO


Toward the end of the session, I was able to capture these sweet moments with mom and dad holding and kissing their beautiful daughter.

Longmont Newborn Photographer
Mama’s kisses and daddy’s arms – Longmont, CO
Longmont Newborn Photographer
A little black and white drama – Longmont, CO


Another successful Longmont newborn photography session with happy newborn photography clients!

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My First Newborn Photography Shoot – Longmont, CO

By Kat Knuth, Longmont Newborn Photographer

As a new Longmont newborn photographer, I needed models from Longmont to practice my newborn photography on. It’s rare, but I put out a model call on social media to get a couple families to model for me. In exchange for their time, I gave them a couple 11×14 mounted art prints from the session.

My first volunteer was this lovely family.

A Sweet Candid – Longmont, CO

When I entered their home, I was so nervous. I haven’t been in Longmont very long and don’t have a reading of the people from this area. But when Jon opened the door and welcomed me inside, I knew I had nothing to worry about.

I set up my newborn photography posing cushion and basket while chatting with Heather and Jon. Their newborn son was wrapped in a light blanket to treat his jaundice. My son had it too, but we stayed in the hospital to have his treated. Maybe it was a symptom of the pandemic to send newborns home to be treated? I was about 5, almost 6 months pregnant at the time, and knew my daughter would likely face jaundice too. How wonderful it would be to spend that time at home with her in Longmont as she worked through it!

As I was warned by my newborn photography mentor, this session took a couple hours to complete. Sweet boy was taking his time, nursing and sleeping. We took several pictures in the basket (his favorite place for the session, where after a few minutes examining his fingers, he drifted off the sleep).

Longmont Newborn Photographer
Curious cutie – Longmont, CO


Moving onto some lifestyle shots, we moved into the master bedroom. I loved the chaos of bedding, bassinet, diapers, and toys in various spots throughout the room. I gathered the family on the bed and watched them interact with each other.

As the newborn photography session wound down, we took a few of my favorite pictures with Heather and Jon holding their newborn in a cute knit sweater and matching pants. I love the details in his little feet next to dad’s wedding band. Those are my favorite kind of details to immortalize.

Longmont Newborn Photographer
All the little details – Longmont, CO



As I left, I called my newborn photography mentor to share just how excited I was with my work and meeting Heather and Jon. I knew I was working toward something fabulous in Longmont, Colorado, as a newborn photographer.

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My “Why”

By Kat Knuth

Longmont Family Photographer

I was recently asked by my photography mentor about my “why.” Why am I a photographer? Why did I want to become a photographer?

Why?

I’ve been thinking about how to answer ever since. I could spew some noncommittal nonsense about always loving taking pictures or getting into travel photography while in graduate school. While neither statement is a lie, they don’t get to the heart of the question. They just poke the surface.

So how to answer?

When I was little, looking through pictures was my favorite thing to do. My family moved around a lot and often pictures were how I learned the faces of my relatives. In fact, because my father was deployed when I was a baby, it was how I learned who he was. Every night, my mother and I would say goodnight to his portrait on the wall. When he returned, I was a little over a year old and very much a momma’s girl. I cried when he tried to hold me and clung to my mother’s neck. She pointed to the portrait and back at my father, trying to get me to connect the two. I followed her finger but still wouldn’t go near him. The legend ends when my dad fell asleep on the couch that night and I wandered over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Longmont Portrait Photographer

Every night, my mother and I would say goodnight to his portrait on the wall.

As I grew older and made friends, pictures were how I remembered what I left behind. My grandmother gave me an antique disk camera when I was around 7 years old that I took everywhere with me. I took pictures of my friends, the world as I saw it, everything. It felt like, packing for a move in a way. Organizing memories into little squares that can be easily transported from one place to another.

I appreciate this need to document my experiences most when I have to reach through my archives to find something. Recently, a friend of mine passed. It was a total shock, as young people’s deaths often are. I immediately went through my digital photos, looking for his face. I needed to see him as I remembered him. I found pictures I’d forgotten taking–smiling, partying, laughing. I sent several to his other friends, eager to share what pieces I’d kept of him with them. In the lead up to his funeral, we all posted some of those pictures on social media, remembering what his friendship meant to us. I wished I’d taken more pictures, kept more of him around, but was so grateful for what I did have.

I guess, to pull all these strings of thought together, photography to me is the ability to share what I experience, however limited in view, with the people I love. Becoming a photographer is how I help others achieve the same. Becoming a photographer in Longmont, Colorado, is just the cherry on top. Who wouldn’t want to take pictures of such lovely people in such a gorgeous state?

To me, you never regret the pictures you take, no matter how good, bad, embarrassing, or ridiculous. But when your memory fades and the people in your photos begin to disappear, that’s when you regret not capturing more moments. As a Longmont family photographer, photography is how I turn irreplaceable memories into art that lasts.

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Learning how to Shoot in Manual Mode

By Kat Knuth

Longmont Family Photographer

Like many professional photographers, I’ve been obsessed with taking pictures for a long time, long before becoming a Longmont family photographer. I’ve always been the girl with a camera, capturing everything from party pictures that should have never been taken (sorry college friends) to gorgeous travel scenes I hope I never forget. Along the way, I developed an eye for a good shot, something that only comes with practice.

So, when my husband decided to invest in a Canon DSLR before our honeymoon, I was ecstatic. Finally! I’d have a camera that matched my growing photography skillset! Professional photographer here I come!

In auto mode, I was fantastic but my shots were still only good 50-70% of the time. What gives? Surely the fancy new camera would just…make me a good photographer? That’s all it takes, right?

Not even close.

When my son came along, like many new parents/millennials, I became obsessed with documenting every milestone. I set up elaborate sets in my apartment living room, photographing everything and learning more and more each time. I learned how to light a set indoors, how to adjust my settings to help, how to edit shadows in photoshop if I missed something, etc.

But when something wasn’t working, or my kiddo wasn’t cooperating, I’d abandon what I was learning and switch right back to auto mode.

I’d abandon what I was learning and switch right back to auto mode.

It wasn’t until I became brave enough to post my first model call and begin pursuing photography in Longmont, Colorado, professionally that I really started to understand my camera and how it worked. I was preparing for my first set of models and I took my little family out to Barefoot Lakes in Firestone, Colorado. During the ever so perfect golden hour, I took some of my favorite images I’ve ever shot. Completely in manual mode to make sure I captured all that beautiful golden light, I followed my son around as he explored wildflowers and enjoyed the evening glow.

What I’d photographed…was so lovely, so natural, it didn’t need to be over processed and over produced. It just needed to exist as I shot it.

For the first time when I went back to edit my photos that night, I didn’t overedit. I didn’t have to. What I’d photographed in Firestone, Colorado, was so lovely, so natural, it didn’t need to be over processed and over produced. It just needed to exist as I shot it.

That’s how I prefer to shoot now. I nudge my camera along with the manual settings, usually focusing on aperture, to get the shot I want the first time, before photoshop takes over and I process the images to give them that sweet airbrushed touch. This results in much more natural, true-to-life images that have come to define my style.

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