Find the Best Photographers in Minnesota

Gwen Larson photographs newborns and families from her base in Hudson, Wisconsin, just across the St. Croix River from Stillwater, and her work has been recognized with a ‘Best Family Photographer’ honor in the St. Croix Valley. Her newborn offerings include both traditional at-home or in-studio sessions and Fresh 48 photography, which she shoots at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury for families who want their baby’s first hours documented before they’ve even left the hospital room. Her overall approach favors ‘timeless imagery rooted in real connection’ over heavily styled setups, and that philosophy carries through whether she’s photographing a two-day-old in a hospital bassinet or a two-week-old during a relaxed at-home newborn session. Clients specifically highlight how she works with kids of all ages, including newborns, describing her as someone who consistently turns even a fussy session into beautiful, natural images. Beyond newborns, she also shoots milestone, family and children’s sessions, giving families a single photographer to return to as a baby grows. Her service area covers Stillwater, Woodbury, Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove, Hastings and St. Paul in addition to her home base of Hudson, making her one of the more geographically flexible newborn photographers serving the St. Croix Valley. 

Morgan M Photography operates from a studio at 123 2nd St N in downtown Stillwater, focused specifically on newborn and family portraits rather than splitting attention across weddings or events. The studio’s stated goal is to create ‘heirloom’ images — the kind of newborn portraits meant to be printed, framed and passed down rather than just posted online — and that shows in how sessions are built around a client’s personal style and preferred location rather than a single fixed package. Newborn sessions can happen in the Stillwater studio or on location, giving families flexibility for a baby’s first couple of weeks when travel and scheduling are already tight. The studio’s portfolio reflects a mix of soft, posed newborn portraits and more relaxed lifestyle images, suggesting a range that can flex to what a given family wants rather than a single signature look. Being located directly in downtown Stillwater — in the same stretch of 2nd Street that houses several other local portrait studios — puts Morgan M Photography within easy reach for families throughout the St. Croix Valley without a long drive into the Twin Cities. Inquiries and booking run through the studio’s website and Facebook page. 

Stacy Elsholtz runs Stacy Lea Photography from Stillwater, Minnesota, focusing on timeless, lifestyle-driven imagery for families, newborns and seniors across the Twin Cities metro. Her newborn portfolio leans toward natural light and minimal styling, with a dedicated gallery of Fresh 48 and newborn lifestyle sessions that favor real interaction over heavily posed studio setups. A Fresh 48 session — photographed within the first two days after birth, often still in the hospital room — is one of her specific offerings, capturing the earliest hours of a family’s story before they’ve even settled in at home. For newborn sessions outside the hospital window, she brings that same lifestyle sensibility into homes, working with soft window light and a family’s own space rather than a studio backdrop full of props. She describes her overall approach as capturing genuine connection rather than manufactured smiles, an emphasis that shows consistently across her newborn, family and senior work alike. Based in Stillwater and serving the greater Twin Cities area, she keeps her business primarily digital, managing inquiries and bookings through her website rather than a storefront, with new clients typically hearing back within one business day of reaching out. 

Laura Banken photographs newborns from her Stillwater, Minnesota base, splitting her calendar between roughly 12 to 15 weddings a year and two to three newborn families every month — a volume that keeps her newborn posing and safety skills sharp between sessions. She offers both a Stillwater studio setting and in-home sessions, letting families choose whichever environment feels more comfortable for a baby’s first couple of weeks of life. Her broader portfolio spans weddings, maternity, boudoir and family portraits, giving her newborn work the benefit of an established, practiced eye rather than a side offering bolted onto a different specialty. Because she works directly with families rather than through a large studio team, booking and communication run through her personally — she can be reached at (651) 295-7120 to check availability, which she recommends securing well before a due date given how narrow the ideal newborn photography window is. Her Stillwater location keeps her close to the town’s hospitals and to the historic downtown backdrops she also uses for family and maternity sessions, giving repeat clients a consistent home base across every stage of a growing family. 

Rachel DesJardins keeps her studio right on Main Street in downtown Stillwater, and while she’s best known locally for wedding photography at venues like JX Event Venue and the Lowell Inn, her portfolio also includes birth and newborn work. She treats newborn and birth photography with the same candid-storytelling philosophy that defines her wedding work: capturing what’s actually happening in the room rather than staging a shot list of poses. For a birth or newborn session, that means documenting real moments — a first cry, a parent’s exhausted relief, tiny fingers wrapped around a hand — instead of posed studio portraits. Her Main Street location puts her minutes from Stillwater’s hospitals and family homes, which matters for the kind of quick-turnaround, in-the-moment photography that birth and newborn stories require. She describes herself less as a hired vendor and more as an engaged presence in a family’s biggest moments, and her online booking history shows she’s been trusted across more than 30 markets. Beyond newborns and weddings, she also photographs families, seniors and dancers from the same downtown studio, giving her a wide-ranging portfolio while keeping her actual footprint centered on Stillwater’s Main Street. 

Katie Lee has spent the past five years photographing newborns, maternity and families from her studio at 712 Rivard Street in Somerset, Wisconsin, just across the St. Croix River from Stillwater. That location puts her directly in the heart of the St. Croix Valley, and her client base reflects it — she regularly photographs families from Stillwater, Hudson and New Richmond alongside her Somerset neighbors. After years of booking in-home sessions, she recently opened a dedicated studio space in town specifically for newborn photography, giving her more control over lighting, temperature and setup for sessions with babies in their first couple of weeks of life. Clients describe her as patient and hardworking, willing to keep trying until a fussy newborn settles enough for the shot, and that persistence shows up in reviews that specifically call out how comfortable she made both parents and baby feel. Beyond newborns, Katie also shoots weddings and family sessions across Minnesota and Wisconsin, but the newborn and maternity work in her Somerset studio remains the core of her business. Families can reach her studio directly at (320) 282-0246 to check availability, which tends to book up quickly around a baby’s due date given the narrow newborn photography window. 

Emma Ziegler has spent more than ten years as a professional photographer, and since 2018 she’s run Honey Deww Photography full-time out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, serving families throughout the Twin Cities metro including Stillwater. Her newborn sessions are built for babies in their first five to fourteen days of life, and she encourages families to book during the second trimester so a date is already reserved when the baby arrives. Sessions run two to three hours and can happen either in-studio or in the comfort of a family’s own home, with props, wraps and a private online gallery included; pricing starts at $400. What sets her newborn work apart is the range of experience behind it — she’s worked with preemies, NICU graduates, multiples, adoption placements and rainbow babies, always keeping a parent or assistant within arm’s reach and never forcing a pose. She also builds in parent and sibling portraits as a standard part of every newborn session, treating those relationship shots as just as important as the solo baby images. That patient, judgment-free approach has earned her a 5.0 Google rating, and her reviews consistently point to her calm, warm demeanor as much as the quality of the final gallery. 

Kristina Lynn has been building portrait experiences in Stillwater since 2009, when she opened her studio at 118 Chestnut St E after training with top portrait studios across the Midwest and earning a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing alongside an Associate’s degree in Portrait Photography. Seventeen years later, that same downtown Stillwater studio remains her home base, though her newborn work now reaches families well beyond it — she’s also traveled to Denver and Sarasota for sessions. Her approach to newborn photography favors soft, simple imagery over elaborate posing: cozy wraps, gentle light and close attention to tiny details like fingers, toes and eyelashes, built around what she calls honoring ‘those tiny, fleeting first days.’ Rather than choreographing a session around a shot list, she keeps babies comfortable first and lets tender moments — snuggles, yawns, the quiet weight of a newborn against a parent’s chest — carry the images. Kristina also photographs families, high school seniors, headshots and even pets from the same Stillwater studio, and her nearly two decades of experience show up in how efficiently she runs a newborn session without rushing the baby. Interested families are directed to book a discovery call to walk through pricing and scheduling for a session timed to their baby’s first days home. 

Jagger Rose Photography brings newborn sessions right into downtown Stillwater through Hive House Studio, a light-filled space on the third floor of the historic Isaac Staples Sawmill building. Based in Hudson, Wisconsin, photographer Jagger built her business around the St. Croix Valley, and her client base stretches across Somerset, New Richmond, River Falls, Lake Elmo and Stillwater itself. Her in-studio lifestyle newborn sessions are designed around a baby’s first one to three weeks of life, when infants are still sleepy enough to settle into soft wraps and simple poses without much fuss. Rather than a rigid list of setups, she leans on natural light and a small set of neutral textures inside Hive House to keep the focus on the baby and the family around them, not on props. That approach has earned her a reputation as one of the valley’s most trusted newborn photographers — she holds a 5-star rating across 29 reviews, with clients repeatedly praising how comfortable and unhurried her sessions feel even with a fussy or unpredictable newborn in the room. Jagger also shoots weddings, engagements and seniors throughout the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin, but it’s the newborn work — grounded in that same historic Stillwater studio — where her patience and eye for quiet, authentic moments show up most clearly. 

Morgan Walworth Photography is a Twin Cities newborn and maternity studio led by a photographer with a background as a pediatric nurse, a detail that shapes how sessions are run for Eagan families. That clinical background translates into baby-led sessions: rather than pushing a newborn through a fixed shot list, Morgan works around the baby’s feeding, sleep, and comfort needs, an approach informed by hands-on nursing experience with infants. As a mother of three herself, Morgan also brings a parent’s-eye understanding of what families actually want documented from those first days. Sessions are offered either in a light-filled studio or in clients’ own homes, and every booking includes styling guidance along with access to a curated client closet of postpartum dresses, so parents don’t need to source outfits separately. Morgan Walworth Photography explicitly lists Eagan among the many south and west metro communities it serves, alongside Lakeville, Apple Valley, Woodbury, and Minnetonka. Package options include the Motherhood Collective, pairing maternity and newborn sessions starting at $1,449, and the First Year Collective, which bundles maternity, newborn, and a one-year session for $1,999, along with a standard delivery of 60 or more fully edited digital images per session. 

Kate Simpson Photography specializes in in-home, lifestyle newborn and baby photography across Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the greater Twin Cities. Rather than bringing families into a studio, Kate photographs newborn sessions inside clients’ own homes, documenting the early days of a baby’s life in a familiar, lived-in setting. The studio’s website markets Kate directly as a ‘Minneapolis & St Paul Newborn Photographer,’ and she has been recognized as a Top Newborn Photographer in Minneapolis by Expertise in multiple consecutive years from 2021 through 2024. For families who want ongoing documentation through a baby’s first year, Kate offers ‘The Baby Plan,’ a package of four sessions for a flat rate, in addition to standalone single newborn sessions. Client testimonials describe Kate as feeling ‘like a longtime friend’ during sessions and highlight her attentiveness to family details, including capturing toddlers, newborns, and even family pets in the same visit. Kate also delivers a custom slideshow set to music with each session, giving families an additional way to revisit their newborn photos beyond printed or digital images. For St. Paul parents who prefer relaxed, in-home newborn sessions over a studio visit, and want a photographer with multi-year recognition in the Twin Cities market, Kate Simpson Photography is a well-regarded choice. 

Samantha Lewis Photography is a family, maternity, and newborn photographer serving Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the greater Twin Cities. Newborn photography is listed as one of the studio’s three primary service categories on its website, alongside family and maternity sessions, reflecting a business built specifically around documenting a family’s earliest chapters rather than treating newborn work as an add-on service. Samantha’s approach favors natural light and genuine interaction between parents and baby, with a portfolio that shows soft, candid newborn imagery rather than heavily staged studio setups. The studio maintains an active blog and portfolio documenting recent newborn and family sessions, giving prospective St. Paul clients an up-to-date look at Samantha’s current style before booking. Samantha Lewis Photography works with families across both core Twin Cities — the site’s own tagline positions the studio as serving ‘Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota,’ rather than favoring one city over the other, which sets it apart from studios that lean more heavily toward one side of the metro. For St. Paul parents specifically seeking a photographer whose business is centered on newborn and maternity work rather than weddings or events, Samantha Lewis Photography offers a dedicated, locally active option in the Twin Cities newborn photography market. 

Giliane E. Mansfeldt Photography is a boutique newborn, maternity, and family photography studio located at 970 Raymond Ave in Saint Paul, with more than 25 years of experience serving families across Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the surrounding Twin Cities. Giliane has been voted Best Newborn Photographer in Minnesota for four consecutive years (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024) and was inducted into the Saint Paul Business Hall of Fame in 2023, alongside multiple Saint Paul Small Business Excellence Awards between 2020 and 2023. Her newborn sessions are calm and baby-led, meaning the pace of each session follows the baby rather than a fixed shot list, a studio-based approach designed to reduce stress for both newborns and parents during the first days at home. Giliane’s long tenure in the Saint Paul market and her repeated local awards distinguish her from newer studios, giving her a depth of newborn-specific experience that few competitors in the area can match. In addition to newborn portraits, the studio offers maternity and family photography, allowing clients to work with the same photographer through pregnancy and into their baby’s first months. For St. Paul parents who want one of the most decorated, longest-tenured newborn photographers in the local market, Giliane E. Mansfeldt Photography is a standout choice. 

Leslie Crane Photography is an award-winning portrait studio based in Chaska that serves newborn, family, and senior clients throughout the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Twin Cities area, with more than 20 years of professional experience. Leslie’s newborn work is featured in a dedicated ‘lifestyle newborn and family’ portfolio section, reflecting a documentary-influenced approach that favors natural interactions over rigid posing. Long-standing client relationships are a notable part of her business — one repeat family’s testimonial on her site describes being photographed as newborns and continuing on as ‘one of your regular families’ in the years since, pointing to a studio that many Twin Cities parents return to session after session. While her studio is based outside St. Paul proper, Leslie Crane Photography markets itself directly to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul market and has built two decades of experience photographing newborns across the metro. Her portfolio and session details are organized around a full client experience, from an initial consultation through the final session, giving new parents a clear sense of what to expect before booking. For St. Paul families interested in an established, long-tenured newborn photographer with two decades of Twin Cities experience and a loyal base of returning clients, Leslie Crane Photography is a well-regarded option. 

The Silver Blossom Photography Studio is a St. Paul-based portrait studio that describes itself as a premier newborn, child, and family photographer serving the Twin Cities. The studio maintains a dedicated newborn gallery on its website, showcasing the soft, studio-style newborn portraits that make up a core part of its business alongside child and family sessions. The Silver Blossom’s newborn work follows a classic studio approach — wrapped poses, neutral tones, and carefully controlled lighting — giving parents a polished, gallery-ready set of images from their baby’s earliest days. Based in Saint Paul, the studio is positioned to serve families directly in the city without requiring a long drive into Minneapolis, a point the business emphasizes as part of its identity as a Twin Cities-focused studio. The Silver Blossom Photography Studio holds a 5.0-star rating from 13 client reviews. While a smaller review count than some larger studios in the market, the consistent five-star feedback reflects a small, boutique operation rather than a high-volume one. For St. Paul parents who want a local, studio-based newborn photographer with a dedicated newborn portfolio and a perfect review record, The Silver Blossom Photography Studio is a strong choice among the city’s newborn photography options. 

Emily Koivisto Photography is a St. Paul-based photographer highly specialized in newborn photography, alongside senior portrait and family sessions. Emily offers Fresh 48 sessions — newborn photography captured within the first 48 hours of a baby’s life, often at the hospital or birth center — as well as at-home newborn sessions for families who prefer to wait until they’re settled in. Her service area covers St. Paul and the surrounding communities, including Sunfish Lake, Mendota Heights, Lilydale, Maplewood, Inver Grove Heights, Newport, and South St. Paul, making her one of the more locally rooted newborn photographers serving the city directly rather than commuting in from Minneapolis. Emily balances her photography business with work as an oncology nurse, a background she has said shapes the calm, attentive way she works with new families during a newborn session. Emily Koivisto Photography holds a 5.0-star rating from 21 client reviews. Her website features dedicated galleries for St. Paul baby photography, child photography, and family photography, giving parents an easy way to see recent newborn work before booking. For St. Paul families who want a newborn photographer based directly in the city, with Fresh 48 hospital session availability, Emily Koivisto Photography is a strong local option. 

Hannah Ampe Photography is a Minnesota family and newborn photographer serving the Twin Cities, including St. Paul, with a portfolio that features a dedicated ‘Births & Babies’ gallery of newborn work. Hannah’s newborn sessions focus on authentic, lifestyle-style imagery — soft details, sleepy expressions, and the early bond between parents and baby — rather than heavily posed studio setups. She photographs families across the metro, including St. Louis Park, Ramsey, and Loretto, and is known for traveling to meet clients where it’s most convenient for a new family adjusting to life with a newborn. Hannah Ampe Photography has built a strong local reputation, holding a 4.9-star rating from more than 30 client reviews. Alongside newborn photography, Hannah offers general family sessions and seasonal mini sessions, giving Twin Cities families an option to keep working with the same photographer as their child grows past the newborn stage. Her website highlights current booking availability for newborn and family sessions, reflecting an active, ongoing practice rather than a seasonal or part-time operation. For St. Paul families who want documentary-style newborn photography with a photographer who travels to accommodate a newborn’s schedule, Hannah Ampe Photography is a well-reviewed option in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. 

Lisa Poseley Photography is a Minneapolis-based studio that photographs newborn, maternity, and family sessions for clients throughout the Twin Cities, including St. Paul, Blaine, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, and North Oaks. Lisa’s studio, located at 77 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis, gives newborn clients a dedicated space designed specifically for working with babies in their first weeks — one client testimonial describes Lisa as ‘a miracle worker when it comes to working with newborns and children.’ Her sessions blend posed newborn portraiture with more relaxed family and sibling images, giving parents a mix of classic studio shots and candid moments from the same visit. Lisa Poseley Photography has earned a 4.9-star rating from 26 client reviews, reflecting a consistent track record with Twin Cities families. The studio’s reach extends well beyond the immediate metro, with the website noting the team also travels for sessions into western Wisconsin and South Dakota, a sign of an established, in-demand newborn photography practice. For St. Paul parents willing to make the short drive to a dedicated newborn studio, or who want a photographer experienced with fussy or sensitive newborns, Lisa Poseley Photography offers a proven, highly rated option in the Twin Cities market. 

Malorie Jane Photography is a Minneapolis-St. Paul area photographer whose portfolio spans wedding, senior, and newborn photography throughout the greater Twin Cities, including a documented newborn session in Eagan for the family of Baby Penelope in June 2023. That Eagan session, published on the studio’s blog, shows Malorie Jane’s approach to newborn work: soft, natural-light imagery that leans toward candid connection between parents and their new baby rather than heavily staged setups. While weddings make up a significant share of the business, including work as far afield as a documented destination wedding in Florida, newborn photography remains a standing part of Malorie Jane’s session offerings for local families. The studio’s blog functions as an ongoing portfolio, with dated posts documenting real client sessions across the Twin Cities rather than stock or sample imagery, giving Eagan parents a clear sense of what an actual session with the studio looks like before booking. For families who want a photographer already familiar with newborn sessions in the Eagan area specifically, Malorie Jane’s published Baby Penelope session offers direct, local proof of that experience. Prospective clients can review the newborn category of the studio’s blog directly on its website to see additional recent sessions. 

Molly Shields Photography is a fine art portrait studio serving St. Paul, Minneapolis, and the surrounding Twin Cities, with a dedicated studio space in St. Paul for newborn sessions. Molly specializes in newborn, family, and senior portraits, and her newborn work is built around a calm, unhurried studio environment designed to keep babies comfortable while she captures soft, detailed, fine-art-style images. For outdoor and lifestyle sessions, she travels throughout the Twin Cities metro, giving St. Paul families flexibility in how and where their newborn photos are taken. Client testimonials describe working with Molly across multiple stages of parenthood, ‘from maternity to newborn to family photo shoots,’ reflecting a studio that many families return to as their children grow. Molly Shields Photography has earned a 5.0-star rating from more than 90 client reviews, one of the strongest review counts among newborn photographers serving the St. Paul market. Molly’s photography style favors timeless, gallery-quality portraits over trend-driven poses, aiming to create images families will value for decades rather than just a season. For St. Paul parents looking for an established, highly rated newborn photographer with a real studio and a large base of returning local clients, Molly Shields Photography is a proven choice in the Twin Cities.