After months of waiting and hoping, your baby has arrived. Hurray! We're excited that you're considering Focus Photography to be your baby's photographers, and we'd like to tell you a little bit about ourselves, and how we create the images we're known for.
Let's start with who Focus Photography is. We're three photographers (Will, Lucia, and Alison) striving to produce the most artistic portraits we can create, for families that value photography. Our child-friendly studio is located on Commercial Street in Downtown Portland, and we have free parking for our guests. We're locally owned, civic-minded, and environmentally friendly.
Our principal photographer and co-owner, William von Wenzel, is an award winning photographer (and a two-time recipient of Kodak's prestigious gallery award) and the founder of Photographers Who Care. Photographers Who Care is an organization of studio owners who believe they have a moral imperative to use photography to make their communities a better place.
At Focus, we've developed four niches within baby photography, and have found that most families gravitate towards one or two styles.
Size and Scale
Connections & Relationships
Natural Expressions
Milestone Moments
On the next four screens, we'll talk about each of these four styles, and perhaps you'll find yourself prefering one look over another. Of course, if you like each of our styles, well that's all the more reason why you should bring your baby to Focus throughout their first year, and we strongly recomend you look into our Baby's First Year Plan.
We hope you enjoy the images we've created on these pages, and we look forward to meeting your family. Please call us with any questions, or stop by our studio to see more work and say hello.
Whether we talk about tiny little fingers and toes, great big baby-blue eyes, or rolly-polly baby thighs, some of the cutest characteristics of babies relate to their dimensions and proportions. Portraits that show the size and scale of your baby are one of our four baby niches at Focus, and many parents want us to show how small their newborn is. We do this using your hands, baby shoes, jewelry, yardsticks, or other meaninful items that let us measure your baby visually.
But we can also show how much your baby has grown, even if you didn't have newborn images created. Things that no longer fit baby are effective here, such as her first pair of baby shoes, or a dress she's outgrown.
Size is always fascinating with babies. Whether your baby is the tiniest little newborn, the chunkiest good-eater, or the tallest ten-month old, showing your baby's magnitude, or lack thereof, is important to us.
At Focus Photography, we're known for the images we create that capture the love within families. Connection Studies are one of our Signature styles, and no where do find it more important to capture the relationship between people than with parents and a new baby.
Some people prefer our Fine-Art black and white images, where parents will be a background object, and the emphasis of the portrait will be baby clinging on to a shoulder, arm, or hand. other people like our Interaction Connection images, where we'll show you lifting baby over your head, cooing in her ear, or making her laugh by blowing raspberries on her belly.
It's our belief that the bond between parent and child is the most important thing we can capture during a baby session, so we'll always capture some connection images when you come in. Please review our "Getting ready for your baby session" pamphlet beforehand, as we have several important preparation tips for you.
Joy. Sadness. Pride. Laughter. Each of these words conjures up a picture in your mind, of a real emotion playing out on your baby's features. Compare that with this: 'smile. Say cheese'. Its not the same thing, is it? The image you think of has lost it's integrity, and now it's totally fake.
We're into genuine emotions, and we've found that most parents prefer genuine expressions as well. At Focus Photography, we let babies express their emotions naturally, and capture the entire gamut of baby's expressions.
The same thing applies to parents, brothers and sisters, and everyone we photograph. When people smile in our images, they're doing it because they're actually enjoying themselves, and that's the only way to get natural images.
One of the four niches we've developed at Focus Photography is showing the differences along your baby's developmental path. The magical changes that show how quickly baby is growing up. She can hold her feet; hold her head up while laying on her belly; roll over to her back; sit up unassisted; crawl to get something; or stand on her own.
Baby's first year is full of these milestones, and at any given photo session, we'll try to emphasize your baby's current accomplishments.
Because we think it's important to capture as much of the magic of babyhood as we can, we've developed a way for parents to bring us their babies several times to capture milestones, at a more affordable price than buying these sessions seperately. We call it our Baby's First Year Plan, and you'll lear more about it on the sessions page.
Essentially, you'll get three photo sessions at key milestone times (and you might be eligible to receive two bonus sessions), as well as a framed Image Panel to display baby's most illustrative accomplishments, all for the price of the Image Panel alone.
We have more information on the Baby Sessions tab, and we hope you'll consider the benefits of getting a whole year's worth of photography for your baby.
This week is a good week. Babies grow at such a fast pace in their first year, doubling in length, and tripling in weight, in under one year.
The biggest changes occur in the first month, and we love to photograph babies under two weeks old. That is when you're baby is at his tiniest, sleeping as often as feeding, and curled up into a tight little ball. After two weeks, limbs unfold more, and your baby will wake herself up as she thrusts a hand out over her face.
If you like the images emphasizing smallness, and you want to capture the delicateness of your newborn, we strongly encourage you to bring your baby in before the two week mark. If you're still at the hospital, come on the way home. You won't have to do anything but rest and watch while you're here; we'll take care of everything.
If your baby is between one month and four months, we can still do a fine art session showing baby's bond with you, and your newborn is still small enough for us to create a tiniest parts portrait story.
Between four months and six months, we'll focus on your child's expressions and eyes. This time frame probably corresponds to your baby's ability to push herself up, or other milestone moments such as rolling over, teething, or enjoying a specific toy.
At seven to nine months, your baby will probably be sitting up alone, and we'll use more clothing outfits in these sessions than in the earlier ones.
Somewhere between ten and twelve months, most babies are able to pull themsevles to a standing position, and this milestone deserves a celebration. Some families choose to come in right around baby's first birthday, and include a cake smash in their session.
There's never a bad time to have us photograph your baby, but with each passing week, another opportunity is lost forever.
So when is the best time to bring your baby in? Right now!
Let's be honest - babies don't need a whole lot of retouching. However, many parents are concerned about baby acne, baby rosacea, and rashes, and we wanted to show you that at Focus Photography, you won't need to worry.
There are three location choices for baby photography: we can work at our studio in Portland; at a nearby beach or park that we work at; or at your home.
Studio Sessions are the most popular choice for babies, and allow us the most control of lighting and backgrounds. We always recommend the studio for clients who value the connection images, as well as the Tiniest Parts.
Our beach or park location: If you're looking for either a coastal or a pastoral feel to your images, we know some great locations within twenty minutes of downtown Portland, and we'd love to photograph you there. However, we only recommend environmental locations for babies one year and older.
Your House. While we may have better control of the lighting at our studio, your baby may be more comfortable being photographed at home. This is also a good option for families with multiple children. We're happy to come to you, but the print retainer for your session increases the farther outside of Portland we need to travel. Ask Lucia for more information.
We'd like to think that after seeing our work and learning about our studio, that you'll choose the photo session that's right for you, and call us to set up an appointment. Here's what will happen once you make that call:
First, you'll call and talk with Lucia. Lucia (phonetically, Lu-chee-ah ) will tell you all about the different sessions we have, answer any questions about us, and ask a few questions about you and what's important to you about your baby's session. She'll tell you what to bring, where to park, and she'll block out some time on our schedule for us to work together. Lucia will also be scheduling a second appointment with you to choose your images, about a week later.
Our studio is located right on Commercial Street at the edge of the Old Port on Portland's waterfront, and because our storefront windows are filled with images, you won't have any problems finding us. We have free parking for our clients on the side of our building, so you won't have to pay any parking meters. And because we're a boutique photography studio, and not working in our home's garage or basement, you'll enjoy a very professional appointment with us.
When you come in for your photo session, Alison will show you around, and get you comfortable. We'd like for you to feed your baby right when you come in, so that your baby will have a little time to be photographed before she's hungry again. If she naps during the session, that's great too.
When we work with babies, we first focus on the style that's most important to you (Size and Scale, Connections and Relationships, Natural Expressions, or Milestone Moments), and then create additional images.
Lucia always schedules enough time during your session to accommodate your baby. If your baby needs to eat again, or be changed, or just a few minutes of snuggling - that's okay, we've prepared for it.
At the end of your session, you'll be eager to come see all the incredible images we created of you, but we need at least a few days to create the art we want to show you. Images have to be rendered, retouched, and enhanced, and then we'll be ready. You'll leave with a small catalog of the products we offer, so you can get some ideas for how you'll want to display your images. Many of our baby clients get a book or album from their session, while other people decorate the nursery.
And then at last, the day will come to see your images. Lucia will take you back to our presentation room, where you'll see your images projected to life size, so you won't be squinting at contact sheets. Lucia has a great system for helping you sort through the images, and then you'll get to shop! We offer books, albums, canvases, jewelry, and even handbags to display your images. And if you find you want more than your current budget allows, we offer no interest financing on larger purchases.
Every image you order will get the complete Focus treatment, and be flawless before we order it for you. Depending on your order, books will be bound, frames will be cut, or canvas will be stretched to produce the highest quality products we can offer you.
Your experience at our studio is as important to us as your delight and pride in the images we create for you. Please let us know any way in which we can make your session special for you.
Our Baby Beautiful Session is perfect for families who want creative baby images, but who may not want or need as much variety.
The Fine Art Baby Session
Session Fee: 180
Our Fine Art Baby Session focuses on dramatic lighting,the close connection between parent and child, and can also include sleeping images, multiple backgrounds and lighting setups, low and high key images, and more family involvement.
A Fine Art Session is good for babies of any age.
The Newborn Session
Session Fee: 180
The newborn session is intended for babies under two weeks old, and is usually scheduled on the way home from the hospital.
The Mommy and Me Session
Session Fee: 180
The Mommy and Me session focuses on the tender images of baby clinging to your shoulder, staring into your eyes, and sleeping in your arms. This is also the best session for anyone wanting nursing images.
Our Welcome to the Family Session
Session Fee: 180
This is two sessions for one price. The first session is just for your new baby, and then we give you a second session to photograph your other children with their new little brother or sister.
Baby's first Year Plan
Plan Price: 240
Our First Year Plan gives you three photo sessions at key milestone times (and you might be eligible to receive two bonus sessions), as well as a framed Image Panel to illustrate all of baby's biggest accomplishments, all for the price of the Image Panel alone.
Our Baby Beautiful Session is perfect for families who want creative baby images, but who may not want or need as much variety as our Fine Art session offers.
This session will showcase baby's natural expressions, and usually lasts thiry to forty-five minutes.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Belly Beautiful appointments are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
Weekend appointments are occasionally available when we're not already committed to a wedding or event. However, because these are premium days, an additional $400 Print Retainer is required to secure any weekend appointment. All Print Retainer moneys are applied entirely to your order.
Our Fine Art Baby Session focuses on dramatic lighting,the close connection between parent and child, and can also include sleeping images, multiple backgrounds and lighting setups, low and high key images, and more family involvement.
Fine Art Sessions are generally ninety minutes or longer, depending on your enthusiasm (we want to create as much art with you as we can!) and how long baby stays happy.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Fine Art Belly appointments are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
Weekend appointments are occasionally available when we're not already committed to a wedding or event. However, because these are premium days, an additional $400 Print Retainer is required to secure any weekend appointment. All Print Retainer moneys are applied entirely to your order.
Our Newborn Session is for babies under two weeks old, and is often scheduled on the same day as baby is released from the hospital. We realize that many new mothers are exhausted when they leave the hospital, and not eager to be photographed themselves.
We'll do all of the work during the newborn session, and you'll just sit and rest. Our Newborn session is ideally accompanied by a Mommy and Me session six weeks later.
Our Newborn Session is also included for free in our Baby's First Year Plan if you enroll before your baby is born.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Newborn appointments are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
Our Mommy and Me session focuses on the tender images of baby clinging to your shoulder, staring into your eyes, and sleeping in your arms. This is also the best session for anyone wanting nursing images.
Mommy and Me sessions are perfect for families that had a newborn session, and this session is included for free with our Baby's First Year Plan if you enroll before your baby is eight weeks old.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Mommy and Me sessions are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
This is two sessions for one price. The first session is just for your new baby, and then we give you a second session to photograph your other children with their new little brother or sister.
This is also a good session for extended families, as grandparents also want to be included with baby.
You may have a Welcome to the Family session as one of your three sessions included in our Baby's First Year Plan. We'll photograph the milestone image first, and then you can have the rest of your family join you.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Newborn appointments are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
One of the four main reasons parents have their baby photographed is to show the differences between the developmental stages. We call these Milestone Moments, and photographing a number of them to display together gives a great record of baby's growth.
One of the more popular ways we can record this is with three propulsion moments - when baby can push herself up while laying down; sit up on her own; and stand up by holding onto something. These stages - push up, sit up, and stand up - pretty much correspond to four, eight, and twelve months old. Our Baby's First Year Plan offers you a photo session at each of these milestones, and a framed three image panel so you'll always remember her progress.
We also offer two bonus sessions for babies that are enrolled early. We include a free Mommy and Me session for babies enrolled before two months of age, so you can save those tender moments between you and your baby forever. And for babies enrolled before they are born, we include a free Newborn session as well.
Baby's First Year Plan
$240
First Year Plan members receive:
Three photo sessions to capture your baby's milestone moments.
A custom-framed three-image panel to showcase baby's changes over the year.
Up to two bonus sessions if you enroll early.
Scheduling
Call the studio to schedule your appointment. Newborn appointments are available M-F, 10-6, and Wednesday evenings until 8.
Our Best Value
Our Baby's First Year Plan is the best value we offer at Focus Photography, and also produces some of the most incredible and meaninful images you'll ever own.
Plan members receive three photo sessions (a minimum value of $360), plus a framed three-image panel ($295), for the low enrollment price of $240! And if you sign your baby up early enough, you could get up to two additional sessions for free.
We know you're too smart not to wonder why an offer is too good to be true, so we'd like to tell you exactly why we do this. When you bring your baby in to Focus, we're going to create images you'll want to display in your house. That's what we do, and almost every family invests in a few of the images.
And we also know that if we give you a beautiful, custom-framed image panel at the end of your baby's plan, everyone who sees it is going to want one too.
So yes, you'll buy some portraits, and yes, we'll get some great exposure, but you'll still save a lot off money. In fact, our Baby's First Year Plan offers a savings of at least $415, and you could save up to $745 depending on the sessions you choose!
This is an excellent baby shower present, as you'll be giving the mother something she can use all year long.
All Images and Text on this site are copyright Focus Photography - 305 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine, 04101 - (207) 772 - 4274
FAQ
What Happens if My Baby is cranky?
We've had cranky babies before, but not very often. You see, when you come to Focus Photography, you're baby will be the only baby in our studio. You'll never wait in a line with dozens of other mothers - when you get to our studio, you'll relax in our air-conditioned studio, feed your baby in privacy, and then when baby's ready, we'll get started. The music is soothing, the lighting is soft - it's really very relaxing.
I don't blame babies for getting cranky at those other studios where your baby is treated like cattle - I'd get cranky too.
I'ts not like that here. And, if your baby is having a hard time relaxing, we'll have scheduled plenty of time for you to sit, feed, change, soothe, and coo to your baby.
do you have a discount on multiple sessions?
No, but we have something better. Our Baby's First Year Plan gives you three sessions to capture baby's milestone moments, plus it includes a custom-framed, three-image panel for you to hang on your wall, all at a substantial savings. See the sessions tab for more information.
How much will I spend on images?
Most families spend at least a few hundred dollars on artistic images. Some families are lucky enough to be able to invest more significant amounts of money, while others might only have a few prints in their budget. And that's okay. We're grateful that we get to work with people who value photography, and we understand that not everyone can afford to decorate their home with artistic portraits (yet).
But this is your baby. If we create the most amazing images you've ever seen, that capture the eyes that will look back at you for the rest of her life, and show how close your family is right now, won't you want to hang some of those images on your walls?
Are you part of a chain?
Nope - We're just three photographers - Will Wenzel, Lucia Razionale, and Alison Thomas. And we're passionate about creating amazing images for our clients. Focus Photography is a boutique photography studio, much like your favorite clothing or jewelry boutique, except that everything we carry is custom created especially for you.
Maybe it's our name, Focus Photography, or something about our brochures or web site, but we often have people assume that we're part of a chain of photography studios. We're not.
You can learn more about us on the page entitled 'About Us' from the main menu, and see some images of our studio (coming this week).
At Focus Photography, we work with baby clients from both the greater Portland area, as well as from throughout Maine and New England. In the Portland Metro area, babies have come from Freeport; Falmouth; Cape Elizabeth; Brunswick; Scarborough; Yarmouth; South Portland; and Gray to get artistic baby pictures. We've done newborn photography for clients from Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Montpelier, Vermont.
Baby photography clients have come from Acton; Eliot; Kennebunkport; Waterboro; Wells; Alfred; Old Orchard Beach; Newfield; Buxton; Berwick; North Berwick; Ogunquit; Limerick; Dayton; Hollis; Kennebunk; Cornish; Kittery; Lyman; Arundel; Sanford; South Berwick; and York for baby pictures with us.
Infants from Cumberland county in Maine have come from Gray; Bridgton; Brunswick; Harrison; Cape Elizabeth; New Gloucester; Casco; Cumberland; Falmouth ; Standish; Freeport; Scarborough; Frye Island; Gorham; Harpswell; Long Island; North Yarmouth; Pownal; Raymond; Naples; Sebago; Windham; and Yarmouth to do their maternity pictures with us.
We’ve photographed babies from Lincoln County, including Dresden; Boothbay Harbor; Jefferson; Newcastle; Westport; Bristol; Southport; Damariscotta; Edgecomb; Waldoboro; Nobleboro; and Wiscasset.
We’ve created cute baby pictures for infants from Knox county in the midcoast, including Camden; Rockport; Appleton; Thomaston; Cushing; Friendship; North Haven; Hope; Owls Head; Union; Warren; and Vinalhaven.
From Rockingham county, New Hampshire, our baby clients have come from Portsmouth; Nottingham; Exeter; Derry; Salem; Atkinson; Hampstead; Hampton; Newmarket; Londonderry; Seabrook; New Castle; Plaistow; Rye; Newmarket; and Windham for their newborn photography. Thank you NH!
Massachusetts has sent us newborns from Boxford; Beverly; Newbury; Marblehead; Danvers; Swampscott; Haverhill; Ipswich; Gloucester; Manchester; and Topsfield to have artistic newborn portraits created.
Baby pictures are too important to have them taken at the same place you buy tires for the car or new sneakers for the kids. Newborn photography is time sensitive - pictures of baby taken today will look different from those taken next month. At Focus, we've devoted ourselves to being artistic baby photographers, to take more than cute baby pictures, but to create artistic heirlooms of your newborn infant. Don't settle for mediocre baby photos - let us be your infant photogaphers, and create newborn portraits you'll treasure forever.
