Melissa Parsons is a Natural light lifestyle photographer specializing in family, birth and newborn photography, serving The Woodlands, Conroe, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, Montgomery, as well as other areas of North Houston.

Ian / The Woodlands TX Newborn Photographer

September 2, 2019

The blog is finally getting a little bit of regular love, now that the kids are back in school. And everyone said, “Hallelujah!”. I’m excited to share Ian’s in home newborn lifestyle session with you! Seeing as how we are scheduling his 12 month photo shoot (that last of his Watch Me Grow sessions), I figured it was time. Ahem.

Ian is such a dream. As you will soon see when I share his other sessions with you (you won’t have to wait long), he nails every session. While newborns don’t need to be sleeping for our session at all, I do LOVE a sleepy baby shot and he didn’t budge…just kept dreaming away.

I don’t bring a ton of things with my to newborn sessions. I used to…but have realized that less actually is more. I am really drawn to whites, creams and ivory so that these sweet babes stand out all on their own. I also think these neutral tones lend themselves to more natural, timeless photos. We also almost always leave the diaper on. It just helps things to go smoother and babies seem more comfortable with this too. =)

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The Greene Family/ The Woodlands TX Lifestyle Family Photographer

August 30, 2019

Gosh, I adore this family. They have been with me for a while, and we have done lots of sessions together! Brooke asked me way back in 2015 if I would be open to doing an in home lifestyle session. You mean would I be willing to come to your air conditioned home…not be concerned about any kind of “critter” or location with lots of people and document your family in their happy place?? Um, sure we should try that!

So we did our first in home session that you can see here. We both fell so in love with the concept of an in home family photo session, that we’ve done this almost every year. I could not love them more! You can see our other sessions here from 2016, here from 2017, and now I get to share their most recent one from this summer with you!! It may be my favorite one yet….one of the reasons that we got to add a new participant!

I love the 3-4 month stage for babies. It’s one of the best times to do an in home session. The Greene family decided to document this stage at home instead of doing newborn photos and I love that we got to see his sweet, charming personality emerge, while still getting plenty of snuggles.

Did I mention the fact that I love air conditioned photo sessions??? Yall, this session took place in July. When I have clients inquire about outdoor photo sessions June -early September, I gently remind them that we have an 8 month summer here in Texas. Sweat is not edited out easily, nor are whiny, miserable little ones…or adults. Look how happy and beautiful this family is!!

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Theia / The Woodlands In Home Newborn Photographer

August 28, 2019

One of the myths about newborn sessions is that they have to be done in the first 10 days of life. Granted, babies usually are only in that sleepy stage for a short time, so sometimes it works well to schedule the session within the first 2 weeks…especially if you are super excited about capturing how tiny they are.

Sometimes life intervenes though…such as a move, work schedules, extended stay in the hospital, etc. In home “newborn” sessions can be done at any age…especially with my lifestyle approach. I love some wide eyed eye contact from these babes!! Usually they tucker themselves out at some point and snooze for a bit, so we get some natural sleepy pictures too.

Another myth is that newborn sessions with young siblings are stressful. They don’t have to be! I remember almost 10 years ago, when I had newborn myself (and a 19 month old toddler), loading everything up into the car, including the temper tantrum throwing toddler, to get everyone to a studio so we could get newborn pictures made of my son. The studio was turned up to a gazillion degrees so we could get those perfectly posed gumby baby photos (and we were all confined to this small space while sweating profusely) all the while, trying to convey love and adoration in our family photos. It was hell. Yes, I’m glad I have some newborn photos of my sweet babe, but man, I wish we would have had the option of taking relaxed newborn photos in our air conditioned home with room to roam for my toddler.

Usually I find that newly promoted big brothers and sisters want to be involved in the pictures…until they don’t. Then we don’t force it…they go run off for a snack or to watch a show and usually find their way back in later in the session, willing and happy! Check out this cutie pie, Theia (her name means light…isn’t that beautiful?) Her big sister was precious and did her best to steal the limelight…and we let her.

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Shivin / The Woodlands TX Lifestyle Newborn Photographer

August 26, 2019

I love being an in home newborn photographer….emphasis on the IN YOUR HOME. One of the sweetest privileges in to be invited in a family’s intimate space shortly after they welcome a new member to their family. It’s the sweetest time, just watching them love on each other and take in everything about this little tiny person.

I love our sweet conversations, and I adore watching siblings take on the role of big brother or sister. I almost always find that everyone is at ease in the home. I usually set up a little area to take pictures of the baby alone, but often we just use those special places to gather everyone together where they are most comfortable. There are no hot studio lights to deal with, no confined spaces…and when the two year old big brother needs a break to go play with his toys….he just does!! I get to take pictures of that too, by the way..

This family was so kind to offer me a hot tea and I almost forgot I was working as we all just enjoyed each other and talked easily among friends.

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Welcoming Asher / The Woodlands TX Birth Photographer

June 19, 2019

I’m so excited to share this birth story with you!

I met Sarah several months back when we had coffee (and breakfast because you cannot go into Blue Door Coffee and not eat.) I always set up a time like this Birth Story clients so we can get to know each other and talk more about the session. They usually have a lot of questions and I like to know what they would like for me to capture and if there is anything that they don’t. Plus…it’s just a good idea to get a feel for who you might be spending one of the most important days of your life with!

Sarah and I clicked right away. She’s so much fun, laid back and has the best sense of humor. She told me more about her family, which helped me get an idea for what may be extra special to capture (spoiler alert: Great grandparents meeting their grandchild for the very first time is really precious).

Sarah text me around 2pm on a Wednesday to let me know she was headed to the hospital to get checked out. I started making childcare arrangements and a few phone calls. Around 2:45, I got another text from her saying they were keeping her and starting pitocin….and that she was already at 5 cm. I kicked things into high gear and headed for the hospital myself….luckily it was a short drive.

I start filming literally from the moment I exit my car. The room was quite full when I arrived with many loved ones excited to support Sarah and meet Asher. Her husband was coming straight from work and arrived about 30 minutes later. Realizing that the hospital bag was still at home, dad decided to drive home to get it…especially because things seemed to be going slow and steady. As soon as he left, things got a little exciting….and no longer were moving slow.

Asher’s birth from Melissa Lebo Parsons on Vimeo.

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Adelaide / The Woodlands TX In Home Newborn Photographer

June 5, 2019

Some of the best emails I love to receive are from repeat clients sharing the news that they are expecting another little one! These in home newborn sessions don’t feel like work at all….I’m meeting a sweet friend’s new baby! We just catch up and gab they whole way through the photo session.

I loved getting to see this little guy take on the role of protective big brother too! He just wanted to touch and hold her as much as possible…which was so fun to capture with the camera.

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The Woodlands Family Natural Light Photographer / Velez Family

June 3, 2019

The best part of my job is without a doubt the relationships that I build with my clients. I love to reconnect with families and return clients as well as meet new friends I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten to connect with.

I’m celebrating the start of June by taking it way back to a session in October…whoops! The blog is a little behind, but I definitely wanted to share this beautiful outdoor family session with you guys. These kiddos always let their personalities SHINE through and give me the best smiles!

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Grayson / The Woodlands TX In Home Newborn Photographer

April 25, 2019

The truth of this post is that I’ve got this little guy’s “sitter” milestone session on my calendar next month and I figured I better finally get around to posting his lifestyle newborn session! One of these days very soon (read possibly months from now), I will get to share his four month session with you guys!

It seems that it’s busy season around here again. Or…it’s April. It’s gorgeous outside, and there are lots of newborn, baby and family sessions keeping me busy! I’m definitely not complaining though!

You will recognize this family quite a bit from the blog (especially if I can ever get caught up, but I digress). I was over the moon when they booked a Watch Me Grow Package for little Grayson because that ensures that I get to see them several times this year! These Watch Me Grow sessions are so amazing because ….Yall. These babies change SOOOO much and so quickly this first year! I can hardly believe looking at these sweet newborn pictures how much Grayson has already changed just a few months later.

I also love that every single Watch Me Grow milestone photo session is also a family session. Because Grayson has a super sweet (really adorable) big sister and girlfriend needs her picture taken a lot this year too!

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Ransom / The Woodlands TX Spring Family Photographer

March 27, 2019

Gosh, I love this family so much. I met Kelly three years ago when she and Eric were waiting on this little charmer below to be born. I’ve seen them several times since for newborn sessions, family sessions, and now we got to celebrate this sweet girl’s 1st birthday!

These two kiddos are always smiling. I’m sure Kelly might tell you of a few times when they’re not, but I promise you…whenever I see them…they’re smiling. It’s contagious. I think my face hurt from laughing and smiling after this photo session was over.

Thomas was digging his suspenders…and let’s talk about those for a second. How cute are these outfits??!! I die. He knew he looked good and did his thing in front of the camera. We spent the majority of this session just getting lots of shots of the kids and family together and then we ended it with a little cake smash. Cake smashes are always saved until the end of first birthday photo sessions for obvious reasons. =)

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Joshua is ONE / Houston Baby & Family Photographer

March 18, 2019

This little boy decided to celebrate his first birthday with me….on his actual birthday! What better way to celebrate a little one’s birthday than with a first birthday family photo session?! This family drove up to The Woodlands from Houston early in the morning because they knew Joshua would be in a playful mood early in the morning.

Ideally, I like to shoot early in the morning (shortly after sunrise) or just before sunset. These times are often referred to as “magic hour” in photographer language. The light is soft and beautiful photographs beautifully. Unfortunately, little one’s magic hour doesn’t always coincide with my magic hour. Ha! Sometimes nap/sleep schedules can be somewhat worked with and we find a happy medium. If your little one’s schedule does not work well in either of these times, we can choose a location that offers lots of open shade and escape that harsh light. In home sessions also take place at anytime during the day that coincides with your little one’s magic hour!

Fortunately, this little guy’s magic hour worked really well with that early soft light! While Joshua was a little shy at first as almost all little ones are, he came out of his shell pretty quick.

His smile lit up his entire face and all of us around him, and he knew how to ham it up for the camera!