Newborn Portrait Ideas - Sentimental Props to Bring to Your Newborn Session

What should I bring to my baby’s newborn session?

I get asked this question all the time, and while the easy answer is “Not a thing! Don’t worry, I have everything here that you need!”, the more complicated answer is, “Well, what’s important to your family? Is there anything special you want to incorporate in your baby’s first portraits?”

(By the way, if you’re wondering what to expect in your newborn session, check out this post with all the details here!)

My portrait style tends to lean towards simple, clean, classic images where the baby is the focus without too many props or distractions taking away from this perfect little being that you just welcomed into your family. However, I understand wanting to make your little one’s newborn portraits your own and I encourage finding beautiful and creative ways to incorporate something meaningful into their portraits. Here are a few of my favorite ideas!

Bring a favorite swaddle from home.

These custom name swaddles are very popular right now, and there are literally hundreds of beautiful designs on lightweight muslin swaddles. I’m sure you were gifted a dozen of them for your baby shower! If you have one with colors that you love or colors that match the nursery or your home decor, bring it! I always love incorporating swaddles into our newborn portraits, and we usually do them as a backdrop or layering blanket to be able to see the full design. Plus, every time you use that swaddle in the coming months you’ll think back to your favorite portrait of your little baby!

Here are a few of my favorite images using swaddles that parents brought from home.

baby lays on custom blanket during newborn session - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby sleeps on hand made blanket during newborn photos - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby girl sleeps on pink wrap during newborn photos - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby lays on floral wrap during newborn session in studio  - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

Grandma’s handmade blanket, or another family heirloom.

The beige blanket in the floor of the image below was passed down from the baby’s great grandfather. So was the bonnet! How special that we got to use it in this sweet girl’s first portraits?!

If you have a blanket that has been passed down in the family, or one that a family member knit or crocheted for you and you would like to incorporate it into your session, just let me know!

baby sleeps in peach handknit cap during newborn photos  - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

Jewelry.

There are so many beautiful ways to incorporate a little sparkle into your little one’s portraits! I’ve had families arrive with pearls that were a first Mother’s Day present for mom and baby. Other families with bracelets that mom wore as a baby and now they fit baby. Families with prayer beads that they used during their journey to get pregnant. Families with necklaces passed down from Grandma to the baby, who was given that same grandmother’s name. Whatever meaningful piece that you have, don’t hesitate to incorporate it into your photographs!

mom holds baby girl with pearls during newborn photos  - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby sleeps on heirloom lace during newborn photos - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby sleeps wearing mom’s jewelry during newborn photos - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby holds beads during newborn session - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

A special prop to honor your family’s journey up to this moment.

Rainbow babies. Miracle babies. IVF babies. We’re so lucky to welcome every single baby into the studio for their portraits, and I know that no two journeys to parenthood are the same. Whatever led you here, feel free to honor that story in a special setup for your little one. From ultrasound pictures and photos of embryos, to pineapples to represent their IVF journey, to rainbow hearts and stuffed animals with their angel brother or sister’s heartbeat inside. Your portraits tell your story. Whatever is meaningful to your family should make its way into your portraits.

baby holds sonogram and pineapples during newborn photos - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby holds stuffed dog during newborn session in studio  - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

A nod to a parent’s career, heritage, or hobbies.

This part is so much fun! Think if there is something special that defines your family or that one or both partners like to do. If you’d like to incorporate it into your little one’s photographs, we can! Stethoscopes for doctors during Covid, wedding saris, hiking boots, a hat or badge from a police officer, wooden shoes for a Dutch family, hot air balloons for the family that met at the hot air balloon festival.

There are all things that I have loved incorporating into photographs, and I know there are so many more creative ideas, too! I can’t wait to see what you come up with to make your portraits your own!

baby lays next to stethoscope for newborn photos  - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography
baby lays on red and gold sari during newborn portraits - sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by NY newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

Save it for later:

Sentimental props to bring to your newborn session shared by New York newborn photographer Nicole Starr Photography

Pretty Mauve Flowers for a Studio Newborn Session

Little Anaís is our newest Baby Plan member, and I loved welcoming her family into our Saratoga Springs portrait studio for her newborn session! We incorporated mauve florals and soft greenery to coordinate with her nursery, and I just love how it all came together for this sweet baby girl. Plus, this new mauve headband from my favorite boutique coordinated perfectly!

newborn session with mauve flower details photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
baby girl sleeps with mauve details photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn session with mauve and pink details by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn baby girl rests on blankets with flower wreath photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
Nicole Starr Photography captures baby girl curled up in peach |  Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer

I always love wrapping the babies up so that we can see their tiny arms and legs, and Anaís looked so beautiful in this peach wrap against our white blanket. All of these headbands are also from Polka Dot Poppy, which is where I’ve been buying our studio headbands for years! They are all handmade, and I love how the designer incorporates such dainty details and beautiful colors into each one!

newborn session with peach accents photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn baby girl with flower crown photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn baby girl sleeps with flower crown photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn session with purple details photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer
newborn session with purple details photographed by Nicole Starr Photography, Albany NY newborn photographer | Delmar NY newborn photographer, Loudonville NY newborn photographer, Clifton Falls NY newborn photographer

Inspired by this newborn session? Pin this image or any from the post above!

Pretty Mauve flowers for a studio newborn session photographed by Nicole Starr Photography

Studio Newborn Session in our Fine Art Album: Boston Newborn Photographer

Every family has a story, and every story is a reason to celebrate.  

I was so honored to be invited to capture Blake Vivian's first days with her family.  They are the absolute sweetest, and I loved our studio newborn session together at the Attleboro studio.  

My most favorite keepsake from their session is this album.  I can just picture Blake at age 2, sitting with her daddy on the couch and pointing out "mama", "dada", and "baby Blake".  I imagine her at age 6, curled up on the couch with her mom and asking her to tell her "just one more time" about the day she came home from the hospital with her parents, and what she was like as a baby.  I like to imagine her 30 years from now, looking through the album to find similarities between herself as a newborn and her own little baby in her arms.

This is why I treasure my job and the moments with these families.  I feel so lucky to be invited into their lives to capture these moments and create heirlooms for them to enjoy throughout their lifetimes.

Enjoy a little peek into a few of my favorite pages of Blake's fine art album -- the colors from her session make my heart do a little happy dance every time I look at them all together!

Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | fine art album | newborn photographer
Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | Fine art photographer
Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | Boston MA Photographer | Family photographer
Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | Family photographer
Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | Nautical newborn photographer
Nicole Starr Photography | Saratoga Springs, NY | Springtime newborn photographer

Behind the Scenes at Rockin' NDSS Studios

UPDATE:  Our Rockin' NDSS Studios project has been featured in an article on The Mighty!  Check it out here.

Last week's photo shoot at the National Down Syndrome Society in NYC was so much fun!  It was a heart-warming, eye-opening, incredibly collaborative experience that left us all with full hearts, happy souls, and tired bodies.  Overall, it was a huge success and I am truly honored to have played a small part in making this dream become a reality!

You can read my full blog post by clicking here to learn more about these extra special photo sessions, what we're going to do with the photos next spring, and see every single one of our lovely & talented models who rock that extra chromosome.

Here I am sharing many of our behind-the-scenes photos from our two days at the NDSS offices.  We turned their staff's offices into dressing rooms, their hallways into makeup studios and hair salons, and their conference room into a photo studio.  A little imagination goes a long way, and this amazing team of organizers, hair stylists, makeup artists, moms, dads, grandparents, cousins, siblings, models, and photographers truly showed what amazing things can happen when we all work together.

Enjoy a peek into our #rockinNDSSstudios adventure!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0333

Three photographers excited for sessions to begin: me, Sherri Harnisch and Wendy Zook.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0334
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0339

Joey, our Slash model out on the streets of New York City!  He really mastered the hard-core rocker look, tattoos (sleeves) and all!!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0340
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0341
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0342
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0343

Lady Gaga and Joan Jett in the makeup studio!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0344
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0345

A little bit of windblown fan action on our very own Mariah Carey!

Sibling love!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0346
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0347
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0348

Katelynn celebrated her 5th birthday by coming to our photo session as Scary Spice!  What a cutie!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0349

Kelly Clarkson and her twin sister.  As a twin myself, you know I always have a special place in my heart for twins on camera!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0350
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0351

Wendy really got our little Pat Benatar to rock out.  We had a full-on dance party in the studio to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" to get this little one in the spirit, and it truly worked!  Her photos are phenomenal!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0352

Our Usher had all the moves once we put on his favorite song.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0353
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0354

Isn't she the most adorable Tina Turner?  I love the missing front teeth!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0355
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0356
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0357
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0358

Our Buddy Holly was a little uncertain about the camera at first.  His sisters started a dance party with his guitar, and before we knew it, he was rocking out all by himself.  We couldn't resist a few fun photos of his whole family's jam session first, though!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0359

Sara's presidential duties at the NDSS also include custom makeup application.  This little guy was an amazing band member for KISS!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0360

Fist bump with Bob Dylan!

Rock on!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0361
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0362

Mason didn't want to have all the fun by himself, so he pulled his big sister out onto the dance floor at the end of the session.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0363

More KISS band members and their family's dance party!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0364

Oh my goodness.  This Elvis impersonator was seriously impressive.  Mickey owns multiple costumes, he performs all around town, and he is REALLY, REALLY GOOD at what he does.  I loved watching him when he was totally "in the zone" as Elvis during his shoot with Wendy.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0365

Teaching his sister and father how to groove.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0366

The sweetest sisters!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0367

Runaway baby!  Johnny Cash and June Carter.

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0368
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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0369

Grace was our youngest model, only 11 weeks old.  I insisted that we capture a few images with her gorgeous mama, and I am sure she is going to treasure these forever!  (Don't worry -- we'll send you a copy of the photos, Celine!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  From the bottom of our hearts.

A huge thank you to every single person that made this event possible, turning it from a dream into a reality.  It was a labor of love, and these two days spent sharing stories, making new friends, and bringing dreams to life were so incredibly worth it.  This was most definitely the most rewarding professional experience of my year, and it's all because of the incredible individuals that came together to make it happen.

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Now that you've had a behind the scenes look at our NYC experience, don't forget to check out our full blog post here on the Nicole Starr Photography page, too!

To see more of this journey, visit blog posts by fellow photographers Wendy Zook Photography and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker.

Rock Star Sessions with the National Down Syndrome Society in NYC

UPDATE:  Our Rockin' NDSS Studios project has been featured in an article on The Mighty!  Check it out here.

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just that little "extra".  

Oh my goodness!  My heart is so full right now!  I am wrapping up 2015 with what has truly become one of the highlights of my year -- and this has been an amazing year already, so that's saying something!

I've spent the past week going through my photos and reliving the brief but incredibly satisfying two days I spent in New York City doing photo shoots for the National Down Syndrome Society.  It was an amazing experience, and I'm still so overwhelmed with all of the smiles, laughter, and bonding that we fit into the little hallways and makeshift dressing rooms and studios of the NDSS offices.

This photo sums it up for me.  It's a behind the scenes look from my dear friend, Wendy Zook Photography, and I love the emotion captured in this moment.  There was so much laughter and so much connection between everyone involved.  In the end, we truly are more alike than different, and I LOVED getting to know each and every person that was involved in our sessions.  (Right here is when Judy told me, "Of course, sweetheart! Don't worry -- I got this!" when I showed her the Mariah Carey look we were going for in her shoot.  Such a doll!)

NDSS Photos 2015-424
NDSS Photos 2015-424

When the National Down Syndrome Society first contacted me about joining them in NYC for an extra special photo shoot, I was speechless and so, so honored.  They had this crazy dream of bringing together a bunch of individuals with Down syndrome, dressing them up as rock stars, and having two days of photo shoots to recreate famous album covers that would be used as posters at their spring gala, their biggest fundraiser of the year.

They wanted me, Wendy Zook Photography of New York, and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker of Nebraska to help them bring this dream to life.  For two days, we worked with an incredible team of photographers, organizers, hair stylists, makeup artists, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and models who all came together for our amazing Rockin' NDSS Studios photo sessions.

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ndss (1 of 297)

Our models ranged from 11 weeks new to 50 years old, and came in from all across the state and the country for these once-in-a-lifetime sessions.  They shared their stories, their dreams, their struggles, and their goals.  They taught us about their lives, what they were working hard for, and how much fun they were having in the process.  They studied hard to come prepared with the look, the moves, and the music of their idols.  We watched them make new friends in the group photos, shaking hands and sharing hugs while their families rushed to share their phone numbers to set up a get together.  We had dance parties in the studio, and we definitely rocked out to "Shake It Off" a time or two with our cameras snapping to loosen the models up.

It was SO.MUCH.FUN.

These photos are still a work in progress, and will be turned into posters for the NDSS Gala's fundraising auction next March.  We'll get to see these life-sized rock stars on display at B.B. King's Blues Club in Times Square.  I can only imagine how amazing that nightclub will look filled with all of these smiling rock stars' faces.  :o)  I can't wait to see it in person in March!

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And now, here are the photos you've been waiting for!

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0303

Carter as Justin Bieber

Ben as Buddy Holly

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0304

Caryn as Carole King

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0307

Carson as Janis Joplin

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0308

Auren as Usher

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0310

Emely as Beyonce

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0311

Riley as Marky Mark

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0312

Brennan as Elton John

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0313

Lucas as Kenny Chesney

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0314

Anthony, Race, Sammy & Matthew as The Beatles

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0332

Ryan as Bob Dylan

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0317

Kailani as Tina Turner

Gabriel, Taegon, Luciano & Mason as KISS

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0301

Judy as Mariah Carey

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0320

Kayla as Madonna

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0321
down syndrome photo shoot
down syndrome photo shoot

Francesca & Robby as June Carter and Johnny Cash

Grace as Aretha Franklin

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0322

Luke as Billy Joel

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0323

Joey as Slash

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0324

Amber as Ginger Spice

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ndss (284 of 297)

Katelynn as Scary Spice (This photo was taken on her 5th birthday!)

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0330

Elena as Joan Jett

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0325

Ameliah as Gwen Stefani

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0326

Janissa as Diana Ross

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0328

Evelyn as Pat Benatar

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rock and roll ndss photo shoot_0329

Christopher as Elvis Costello

This is one of a three-part perspective on the #rockinNDSSstudios experience. To see more of this journey, visit blog posts by Wendy Zook Photography and Sherri Harnisch - Picture Taker.

And, because I couldn't possibly fit all of my photos into one post, be sure to check out some of our behind-the-scenes photos and fun family moments captured that day at the #rockinNDSSstudios by continuing on to this post.

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Love the photos?   View our original photo project for National Down Syndrome Awareness Month with Nicole Starr Photography right here with our local Massachusetts families.