In this episode of The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Closser speaks with newborn photographer Ally Stuart-Ross whose Mabel and Moose Newborn Photography studio is located in Dundee, Scotland. In this conversation, Stuart Ross shares how she started her business and created a unique niche for it. 

Before becoming a newborn photographer, Stuart-Ross worked in the photography industry as a commercial and wedding photographer. For many of those years, she studied Sue Bryce’s business model as taught through The Portrait System. Stuart-Ross knew that someday she would implement Bryce’s teachings and part of her five-year plan was to switch genres and begin photographing newborn portraits. Before the pandemic, Stuart-Ross did several photoshoots with her daughter’s friends’ newborn babies. When the pandemic began and she no longer had weddings to shoot, Stuart-Ross knew it was time to make the leap. She created her brand and website and got poised to begin marketing as soon as restrictions lessened and she was able to have clients to her studio once again.  

[Read: 5 Tips to Shooting Unposed Lifestyle Newborn Photography]

Stuart-Ross feels having a clear niche makes life simple for her clients. They can tell at once by looking at her website if she is right for them. She only shoots infants, from newborn to 18 months. Her color palette is always white to off-white, including wardrobe for parents, siblings, and infants.  

Stuart-Ross says, “the type of photography that I love, that I feel comfortable doing, and the kind that I would want to put on my walls if it was my baby, is all very natural. There are no weird poses. I’ve never put a baby in a bucket. There is absolutely nothing that’s unsafe with what I do. It’s really just a baby wrapped loosely in a little shoulder blanket and beautifully lit. And it’s all very simple and natural.” 

[Read: The Next Natural Step: Branching Out From Wedding to Newborn Photography]

To keep her newborn portrait bookings steady, Stuart-Ross runs several Facebook competitions every year. Like her aesthetic, these competitions are also quite simple. To enter, people must comment with just their due date. Then, she takes two or three days to write every single one of them, finding out more about them and directing them to her website to find out about her. Her contest winners almost always buy many more images than the one-free image they receive, and most contest entrants also book, if not immediately, within the next few months. 

To learn more about Stuart-Ross’s newborn portraits, including her upcoming workshops at her studio in Scotland, visit Mabel and Moose Newborn Photography.  

The Portrait System Podcast helps portrait photographers navigate the world of photography, business, money, and much more. Hosted by Nikki Closser, the podcast is powered by The Portrait System, a comprehensive, online educational platform that teaches all aspects of running a successful portrait photography studio.