Make Your First Photos Simple, Stress-Free, and Beautiful

Your Fresh 48 session should feel calm, emotional, and effortless — not stressful or rushed. Packing a few intentional items will help your hospital photos feel clean, timeless, and cohesive.

Here’s your easy Finch & Mae–approved packing list.

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What to Pack for Your Fresh 48 Photos

1. A Neutral Swaddle

Soft creams, whites, oat, or warm neutrals photograph best. Hospitals often provide colorful blankets, but neutral swaddles help keep the focus on your baby.

2. A Simple Onesie or Gown

Avoid patterns or bright colors. A plain white or cream onesie creates a soft, classic look that matches your newborn gallery.

3. A Knot Hat or Bonnet (Optional)

These add a sweet, timeless touch and are perfect for those tiny detail photos.

4. A Backup Swaddle or Blanket

Babies spit up — having a second option ensures you stay calm and prepared.

5. A Neutral Outfit for Mom

Choose:
• A soft robe
• A light sweater with leggings
• A neutral nursing tank
Stick with creams, taupe, beige, or soft tones that blend beautifully with baby.

6. Comfortable Clothes for Dad

Simple solids work best — white, gray, or tan.

7. Anything Meaningful

Some parents bring:
• A special handmade blanket
• Memorial items
• A letterboard with baby’s name
• A family heirloom

Only if it fits your style — minimal is always best for Finch & Mae.

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What You Don’t Need to Bring

❌ Props
❌ Outfits with text
❌ Hospital clutter (I’ll help clear the space)
❌ Anything elaborate — Fresh 48 is about emotion, not styling

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Make Your First Hours Unforgettable

Your Fresh 48 session will be full of soft light, tiny details, and raw emotion — everything you’ll want to remember years from now.

📸 Book your Fresh 48 session

Learn about the Baby Plan
Serving Madison, Sun Prairie, Rio, McFarland, Columbus, and surrounding Wisconsin areas.

There are few moments in life more emotional, raw, and unforgettable than those first hours after welcoming your baby into the world. A Fresh 48 session captures those fleeting memories in the hospital—tiny toes, first snuggles, and siblings meeting for the very first time. These photographs tell the story of a family’s earliest chapter together, one filled with tenderness, awe, and love.

This sweet session in a Madison-area hospital was filled with those unforgettable moments. Big brother’s curiosity and joy as he leaned in to meet his new sibling for the first time was absolutely heart-melting. The room was filled with quiet laughter, soft snuggles, and the kind of emotions that can only be felt in those first days of parenthood.

What is a Fresh 48 Session?

Unlike a posed newborn studio session, a Fresh 48 is documentary-style photography that takes place in the hospital (or birthing center) within the first 24–48 hours after delivery. These sessions focus on natural, unposed moments—the wrinkly newborn skin, hospital bracelets, the baby bassinet by the window, and the quiet joy of family bonding.

For parents who want to remember the raw and real details of those first hours, a Fresh 48 session is the perfect choice.

Why Families Love Fresh 48 Photography

• Authenticity: These sessions capture real, candid moments as they happen—siblings meeting, parents gazing in awe, or the baby’s first stretch.
• Emotion: Every image is full of raw, unfiltered love.
• Legacy: These are the photos you’ll cherish forever—the very beginning of your child’s story.

This family’s session was especially touching. Watching big brother hold his baby sibling with so much gentleness while mom and dad admired both of their little ones was a reminder of how powerful these first days are.

Fresh 48 Photography in Madison & Sun Prairie, WI

If you’re expecting and looking for a Fresh 48 photographer in Madison, Sun Prairie, or the surrounding Wisconsin area, Finch & Mae Photography would love to help you preserve these fleeting memories. I take care to document the quiet details and emotional connections in a way that feels natural, timeless, and true to your family.

Fresh 48 sessions are limited, as they require on-call availability around your due date. If this style of storytelling speaks to you, I recommend reaching out early so we can reserve your spot on my calendar.

Ready to Book Your Fresh 48 Session?

If you want to remember the very first days of your baby’s life in a natural and meaningful way, a Fresh 48 session is the perfect fit. These photographs will bring you back to the quiet hospital room, the sound of newborn cries, and the joy of introducing your baby to family for the first time.

📩 Contact me today to learn more about booking your Fresh 48 session in Madison or Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Let’s capture the story of your baby’s very first day.

Why You Should Order Birth Announcement Cards from Your Photographer

1. Professional Quality

Photographers use high-quality printing services, ensuring your birth announcement cards look polished and professional. The images will be printed in true color and sharp detail, perfect for creating keepsakes and sharing with family and friends.

2. Customization Options

Photographers often offer a variety of customizable templates or design options.

3. Seamless Integration

Ordering directly from your photographer ensures they use high-resolution photos from your session. This eliminates the risk of blurry or distorted images often associated with third-party photo card services.

4. Time-Saving Convenience

With a newborn to care for, ordering personalized announcement cards from your photographer saves you time. They handle the design and printing process, making it easier to get your baby announcement cards ready without added stress.

5. Expert Presentation

Photographers are experienced in showcasing their work. They know how to arrange newborn photos and text to create balanced, visually appealing designs that stand out.

6. Cohesive Style

When you order your cards through your photographer, the birth announcements can match the theme and style of your newborn photo session, creating a cohesive look across all your keepsakes and prints.

7. Support for Local Business

By choosing your photographer for your custom birth announcements, you support their small business, helping them continue to provide exceptional photography services and products.

8. Stress-Free Process

The first weeks with a newborn can be overwhelming. Letting your photographer handle your baby photo announcements reduces stress, giving you peace of mind while still delivering beautiful cards to your loved ones.

Proudly serving families in Sun Prairie, Madison, Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Poynette, Portage

Hey mama! Are you considering a Fresh 48 session while still in the hospital? Let’s chat about it.

Fresh 48 photo sessions are held within the first 48 hours of giving birth to your new baby. Fresh 48s are a beautiful way to capture the raw, emotive, and unfiltered moments with your newborn.

1. Capturing the early moments.
   • Newborns change rapidly especially within the very first few days. A Fresh 48 session lets you capture all of the details that might soon fade as your baby gets out of the newborn stage. Tiny fingers, the newborn scrunch and the wrinkles all change so quick.
2. Natural and unposed.
   • Fresh 48 sessions are more often relaxed and natural. This helps to focus on the genuine interactions and emotions that you share as a family with your new baby. This truly gives a look into what your life was like when a new chapter started.
3. Preserve those memories beyond a cell phone.
   • I truly do appreciate the cameras that so many phone now have. However, having a photographer come into the hospital to capture these beautiful moments allows your entire family to just be in the moment and not needing to worry about their phones or not even being able to be in the photos. Don’t miss out on these moments as a family.
4. Special keepsakes for your baby.
   • Imagine years from now showing your kid what they were like as a newborn. These images are a unique keepsake that shows them just how loved they were from the very beginning.
5. A milestone you will never get back.
   • Life with a newborn moves quickly. The first few days are a sleepless blur of emotions and adjustments. These memories can honestly be difficult to recall as time passes by.

I love getting to spend mornings with families at the hospital. So how does it work?

Fill out the inquiry form on the website. I cannot wait to learn about your growing family and what your vision is. Please note that I only take on a certain amount of due dates per month.

Once you are booked, I go on call starting at 38 weeks through 42 weeks. This essentially means that I know you have a baby due and I won’t be going out of town and I am ready to head to the hospital shortly after baby makes their arrival.

I always recommend that families reach out when mom goes into labor, this gives me the adequate time to make sure that I will have daycare covered, rearrange plans and so on.

Fresh 48 sessions typically take place starting at about 10am in the hospital. This is usually after testing has been done, rounds have been made and mama has had time to shower and eat some breakfast.

Fresh 48 sessions take less than an hour in time and are completely relaxed. While I give some guidance on posing, I really just want to document your family during this special time.

Who can attend the Fresh 48? I usually just recommend it to be the immediate family but that doesn’t mean that grandmas and grandpas haven’t gotten in on a photo or two with the new baby while they are picking up or dropping off a sibling.

What do I bring with me for the Fresh 48? I honestly don’t bring much with me other than my camera. I love when parents use the swaddles and onesies from the hospital, it really gives the authenticiy of the hospital stay but many parents bring items with.

Here are some things families bring with to the hospital.

• Swaddle (sometimes matches mama’s robe)
• Special blanket or swaddle (some choose to use this for the bassinet mattress cover, others choose to swaddle baby)
• Name plaque
• Bows or hats

What do you wear for a Fresh 48?

• I always recommend that families dress in non bright clothing to avoid color casting.
• Many mamas wear a robe and comfy pants while others dress up a bit more. There is no right or wrong to this.
• Dads typically wear jeans or lounge pants.

How far do I drive for Fresh 48s? Columbus, Portage, Madison, Beaver Dam, Watertown, Sauk City and other surrounding cities.