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Hello!
My name is Valentina. I'm a London baby and maternity photographer.
I share tips, curiosities, information, and more in this blog. Grab a cup of tea (or a glass of wine) and read away!
I'd love to read your comments.
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Six weeks ago I shared a glimpse behind the scenes of this session. Today, you get to see what we made.
She arrived with her props already chosen.
Nude stockings. The kind her mother wore. The ones women mended rather than replaced.
She knew exactly what she wanted to say.
My job was simply to hold the space and let her say it.
This is what a portrait session can be.
Not a makeover or a way to fit an idea of beauty. But a conversation between a woman and her own story, made visible.
Dyana is an artist, activist and doula. She explores identity, the body, and everything that lives between and beyond definition.
I am grateful I had the chance to photograph her.
Tomorrow I have a newborn session and a 1:1 training day with a photographer travelling from Switzerland to spend the day with me.
But before any of that, the work had already started.
It starts with a conversation. Learning about your birth, your family, how things have been since you came home. Then comes the studio prep, making sure the space is warm, clean and ready for someone very new to the world, with attention to every small thing that makes a family feel safe and held.
After 15 years, this is still how I do it. Every time.
That same care is what I pass on when I teach.
If you are a parent looking for a photographer who takes this seriously, or a photographer thinking about training, this is what I stand for.
📩 Links in bio for both.
She almost didn’t come.
She told me she wasn’t feeling confident.
That she didn’t know how to pose.
That maybe I should photograph someone else.
I hear this more than you’d think. From women who are more reserved and introvert but also the ones who are funny and so alive in person. Women who have simply spent too long seeing themselves in a fixed way.
We spent a morning together. Just her, the light, and a space where nothing needed to be fixed or hidden.
The woman in these photos? She was there all along.
If you’ve been telling yourself a similar story, I’d gently ask you this: what if you’re wrong too?
Model Call: Newborn Session
I’m looking for a newborn baby (born after 24th April) to take part in a special session during a 1:1 mentoring day with another photographer.
These early days pass so quickly, and this is a chance to have them gently and beautifully documented, while also allowing me to share my approach and experience with someone learning this craft.
You will receive a complimentary newborn session (valued at £290), along with 5 images of your choice as a thank you.
Both parents will need to be available next week, on 7th May, as I love to include you in a few loving, meaningful moments together.
The session will take place in my Twickenham studio, designed to offer a calm and relaxed experience for you and your baby.
A model release will be required, as the images may be shared across my platforms and the photographer’s.
If this feels like something you’d love to be part of, or you know someone who might, please send me a message or email vale@photographybyvalentina.com
If you know a new mum who would love this, please feel free to share or tag them.
This is the part that gets me every time.
Seeing the images inside the album, in print, held in your hands, is completely different to seeing them on a screen.
They become real in a way a digital file never quite manages.
This little one will grow so fast.
But these pages will stay exactly as they are.
Newborn photography in Richmond and Twickenham.
It never gets old.
Every time one of your albums arrives at my door it feels a little like Christmas morning. There is something about holding it for the first time, knowing what is inside, knowing what it meant to be in that room with you.
If I feel this way, I can only imagine what it feels like for you.
Follow along, the next reel shows what’s inside.
Newborn and maternity photography in Richmond and Twickenham.
Based in Richmond, I work with families across London to capture life’s most meaningful milestones through portrait photography.
