Lifestyle Newborn Academy
The Complete Course For Aspiring Newborn PhotographersYou walk into a client’s home and immediately feel the panic rise…
The lighting is dim. The baby won’t settle. The parents look nervous. And you’re not even sure where to start.
Instead of feeling creative, your mind is racing:
What if I can’t get the baby wrapped?
How do I make these parents feel at ease?
What if the gallery doesn’t turn out the way they’re expecting?
Sound familiar?
Photographing newborns in a lifestyle setting is equal parts beautiful and intimidating… especially when you’re figuring it out on your own.
But it doesn’t have to feel this way.
Imagine this instead…
You walk into a session prepared and confident.
You know exactly how to find the best light, even in a dark home.
You swaddle the baby with ease, soothe them when they fuss, and guide parents into natural, emotional poses.
The family relaxes. The session flows.
You create a gallery filled with timeless images that wow your clients: images that grow your portfolio, your reputation, and your business.
That’s exactly what’s possible inside…
Introducing: Lifestyle Newborn Academy
Your step-by-step guide to photographing in-home, in-studio, and outdoor newborn sessions with confidence, artistry, and ease.
Whether you’re brand new or ready to uplevel your existing work, this course equips you with the exact tools and skills you need to:
Show up to every newborn session fully prepared
Swaddle, pose, and direct with confidence
Handle any lighting situation (even those tricky dark homes!)
Create a stress-free experience for new parents
Deliver emotional, timeless galleries that clients rave about
This isn’t just theory. I take you behind the scenes and show you exactly how I photograph newborn sessions from start to finish, so you can replicate the process and create the same kind of images in your own work.
What’s Inside Lifestyle Newborn Academy
Inside, you’ll find over 6 hours of step-by-step training designed to take you from nervous and unsure… to confident, skilled, and in-demand.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Gear You Need (and What You Don’t): Save money by investing only in what matters.
Lighting Made Simple: How to use natural light, even in the darkest homes.
Camera Settings: Nail exposure and focus in any environment.
Swaddling & Safety: Wrap babies safely and beautifully every time.
Lifestyle Posing: Newborns, parents, and siblings, how to guide everyone naturally.
Wardrobe & Props: What to bring, what to skip, and how to help clients prep.
Session Flow & Communication: Step-by-step guidance from booking to gallery delivery.
Behind-the-Scenes Training: Shadow me at 2 full-length newborn sessions and see it all come together in real life.
Plus, the course is:
Self-paced so you can learn on your own time
Lifetime access so you can revisit the material anytime you need
✨ The Bonuses ✨
My Newborn Session Prep Guide
Get the guide that I send to families after they book their newborn session with that teaches them how to prep the family, the home, and baby before I arrive!
Client Closet List and Links
Peek inside my client closet and get links to my top recommended dresses for mamas and outfits and swaddles for babies.
My Posing Deck
Take my posing deck with you to your sessions to literally have right in your back pocket!!
Virtually Shadow Me!
Virtually shadow me at four full family sessions behind the scenes. And see the full galleries that I created for my families from those sessions!
Watch me photograph these sessions!
Here are the newborn session videos I created for the sessions that you get to watch me photograph!
Don’t take it from me. Here’s what other photographers are saying:
Kaylee Creighton Photography
I absolutely loved Michelle’s newborn photography course!
It was such an easy and enjoyable watch, and I really appreciated the video format that allowed me to both listen and read along.
Michelle covered everything—from lighting and locations to posing and swaddling—and I found her behind-the-scenes videos especially valuable.
Watching her apply what she taught in a real newborn session gave me so much confidence to implement these techniques myself.Beyond the technical aspects, I also loved the bonus resources, like her prep guides, pricing guides, and client closet links. Michelle truly holds nothing back—she shares her entire system and workflow without gatekeeping, which I really appreciated.
This course has given me a newfound confidence in posing and creating a more diverse newborn gallery, and I can’t wait to put everything I’ve learned into practice!
Rachel Marie Photography
If you're wondering if this course is right for you, then you should definitely invest!
If you feel nervous going into newborn lifestyle sessions, this course will help build your knowledge, skills and abilities so that you can walk into your clients' homes with confidence and direction! Michelle is so helpful and provides so many examples that you can easily replicate at any session you walk into!
I loved that the Lifestyle Newborn Academy didn't just tell you how to photograph a newborn session, it showed you how with countless photo and video examples of all of the information shared!
This course makes it so that photographers who don't have children of their own can still feel confident and knowledgeable while they are working with and photographing newborns!
Michelle is so warm and helpful in all of her videos! She doesn't withhold any information that would stop you from replicating the same beautiful images that she does at your next newborn session!
This course helped me approach newborn sessions with a lot less nerves and a lot more confidence and also excitement! The Lifestyle Newborn Academy has given me so much more confidence to go into my newborn sessions with a (flexible) plan that will give every family a wonderful experience and a beautiful gallery!”
Meet your instructor
Michelle Poteet
Hey there! I’m Michelle. A wife, mama, photographer+videographer, and photography educator.
My absolute FAVORITE part of what I do is getting to teach photographers like you how to elevate your business, love and serve your clients well, raise your prices, and bless your families with your business.
I’ve been where you are! I remember the days of being SO nervous before newborn sessions. What if baby was fussy? What if I failed miserably at wrapping baby in front of the parents? What if the home had terrible lighting?
I’ve spent the last 10 years honing my craft, learning how to love and serve families (and photographers) well. And I’m ready to share everything I’ve learned with you, so you can take the short cut to success instead of the long way!
Your Investment
For less than the cost of a single newborn session, you’ll gain lifetime access to the entire Lifestyle Newborn Academy.
Everything you need to walk into a session feeling prepared, calm, and confident is inside.
Course Price: $297
What’s inside
Enroll Now
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The A-Z Lifestyle Newborn Photography Course
You don’t have to figure this out alone.
I remember my very first session vividly:
I arrived feeling unsure, asked parents to do the swaddling, and stressed over fussy babies and candid shots.
But once I learned how to confidently swaddle, use natural light, and direct families with ease, everything changed.
My bookings grew, my images improved, and I became known for the emotional, timeless galleries I could consistently deliver.
And that transformation is waiting for you too.
You don’t have to struggle through stressful sessions or waste years trying to figure it all out.
With Lifestyle Newborn Academy, you’ll have all the tools, training, and confidence you need…starting today.
I get messages from local photographers all the time asking if they can shadow me at my sessions to learn how I pose newborns, how I structure my sessions, how I handle difficult lighting situations, and how I deal with fussy babies or cranky toddler siblings.
And while I don't allow photographers to shadow me at my paid sessions, I do offer a service like this as part of my in person mentor sessions ($800 value). I set up a styled session and we photograph the session together, helping my mentee through posing, safety, lighting, editing, working with clients, etc.
But what if you could virtually shadow me at my sessions (and for a MUCH cheaper price tag)??
You CAN virtually shadow me! Inside of The Lifestyle Newborn Academy, you can come along to my newborn sessions behind the scenes, watch how I photograph my sessions from beginning to end and see the photos and videos that were delivered to the clients!
Want to shadow me at a Newborn photoshoot?
Ready to Create the stunning newborn photos that you’ve always dreamed of??
Enroll Now
☆
Enroll Now ☆
The A-Z Lifestyle Newborn Photography Course
What Makes Lifestyle Newborn Academy different from other Lifestyle Newborn Photography courses out there?
I’ve taken several lifestyle newborn photography courses. And to be honest, I’ve been disappointed by all of them. That’s when I first started desiring to create this course!
When I couldn’t find courses that taught what I needed to learn, I vowed that after I figured it out myself, I would create a better course to teach everything I wanted to learn when I was in your shoes!
I remember one course in particular. I loved the instructor’s work. But in her course she said things like “learn how to wrap babies” instead of…you know…teaching you how to wrap babies.
Most lifestyle newborn courses only teach ONE aspect of lifestyle newborn photography such as posing or lighting. But, I set out to create an extensive A-Z list of EVERYTHING you need to know in order to become a confident newborn photographer!
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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This is a video based course! You will see my face the entire time while I teach you about posing families! You will also get to watch me photograph four FULL family sessions behind the scenes as if you’re virtually shadowing me!!
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As long as you need! This is a self-paced course. You will always have access to the course, and you will receive any updates I make to the course forever!
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All skill levels are welcome and encouraged to take this course! If you’re a beginner - you will learn SO much! And if you’re an experienced professional, you will STILL learn so much. You can never know so much that you’re ready to stop learning. This course goes through EVERY aspect of lifestyle newborn photography.
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You can schedule a mentor session with me here!
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I teach lifestyle newborn photography. I do not teach lots of extensive wraps or putting baby into unnatural poses. While you will learn about simple wraps and photographing baby alone, you will also learn about posing baby authentically with family. You will learn about using natural light and working in family homes, outdoors, and in studios. Although we mainly focus on in home newborn sessions.
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Yes! You can see all of my education here! Want a course you don’t see? Reach out and let me know!
