Molly loves to capture personalities of little ones

Molly Bridge specialises in photoshoots for parents-to-be, newborns and toddlers.

“It’s rewarding to see the joy from the parents,” the 21-year-old said. “That I’ve really captured their little one. I hear a lot from parents that I can capture how personality comes through.”

Molly, who has a 15-month-old boy called Noah, said that the ‘unpredictability’ of babies makes for some messy shoots.

“I picked up a newborn little boy trying to rock him back to sleep and ended up with poo all down me,” she recalled. “I end up with lots of mess everywhere, so I can’t wear particularly nice stuff in the shoots!”

However, there is one very popular new trend in baby photography, dubbed ‘cake smashes’, that involves intentional mess.

“Cake smashes are a really fun mess,” Molly explained. “It’s normally their first birthday and we do a mini session beforehand where they wear a nice dress or a nice little suit. Then they do the cake smash and mess it all up and eat it, followed by a bath scene with lots of bubbles.”

As well as the cake smashes, Molly offers ‘bump’ shoots, newborn shoots and packages that cover a baby’s first year.

“Six months is when personality starts to show through, I think,” she said. “They’re sitting up and can start reaching for the toys that they like and they can smile and laugh.”

Although she does not have any formal photography training, Molly said she has learnt from experience and added that being a mum definitely helps.

“I know all the little tricks that I wouldn’t have known otherwise,” she said. “How to particularly rock them or to shush in their ear to settle them.”

Having lost her father when she was just 16-years-old, Molly values the importance of family and of having photographs of loved ones.

“That was really difficult for me and I think that’s why I chose to go in a different direction after I didn’t get into the uni I wanted,” she said. “To stay closer to home because you’ve got to cherish these times together.”