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First days of their life (10.05.2016)

My name is Teesi Zeemann, and I represent one of growing fields of the Estonian photography industry these days. Namely, I photograph newborn babies. This photography genre has come from the United States and today, you find the best photographers of this field exactly from the States and Australia. In Estonia, photographing newborns in that certain way became popular ten years later.

Since I have been dreaming about becoming a photographer forever, I decided to go to photography school and get a certificate. The only thing missing at the time was the knowing of which field of photography to choose. I am often asked why I chose babies. I sometimes try to remember why I chose this field and I think that most likely, I was charmed by the images of those exact foreign photographers. I was interesting in how to get babies posing in those positions and all the art behind that genre of photography. Since I believe that the success of the photographer is guaranteed by focusing on one genre and style, I knew that newborn babies’ photography is going to be my thing.

At the time, there were no professionals in this field in Estonia and thus, there were no trainings. So, I had to take it up myself and practice, practice and practice even more. As time passed, I realized that I was becoming more and more confident in taking these tiny creatures into my hands and I succeeded in posing them. The key to success is patience and enough time.

Like in every field, there are certain rules in newborns’ photography that you need to follow while preparing for the shoot and actually taking the photos. I photograph them in total nudity. This means that the room has to be very warm. In addition, I consider myself to be very meticulous about the poses. This means for example that babies’ fingers should be relaxed and not in a fist; when they are lying on their stomach, their elbows should be in touch with their knees etc. When we talk about photo processing, I make no compromises there as well – I dedicate a lot of time and energy on that too.

But when leaving the technical side of newborns’ photography aside, capturing the first days of babies is an enormously beautiful job full of responsibility. Every day, I am grateful that I have found myself a job that is my professional fulfilment at the same time. In addition, I am fond of the peaceful pace of the photo sessions and getting to know the parents. Since I have now actively photographed babies for three years, there’s still a lot room for learning and development and this adds excitement to the job.

I hope that photography makes your eyes sparkle as well!

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