Let's talk about Fresh 48 - a photo session which takes place at your hospital room within the first 48 hours of delivery. This is a relatively new concept for Dubai, but I feel very strongly about it and I hope it will gain the popularity it deserves.

Confession time - I love love Fresh 48 and not for one, but for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, these images have strong emotional value and this is huge. They are definitely not the type of pictures you would like to print big and frame on the wall or put on a canvas. Probably, they are not even those that you would like to post and share online. They are images to be printed on good paper or put in an album or photobook and be left in a drawer. You don't need to see them often and most probably you won't even have the time and energy to go over them in the hectic first year of your baby/babies. And then one day, they are to be taken out of that drawer so you can touch each and every picture, feel the emotions that overwhelmed you those first days and re-live them once again. (I got the goose bumps just typing this.)

I have asked several second-time mums, "Why would you like this type of session?" and the repeated answer was "Because the first time I missed it all." I have been there. It's a delirious time, a haze of emotions - joy, love, pain, uncertainty. We think we would remember every second of it, but the truth is, we won't. A few years down the road and the memories start fading and it's good to have something in that drawer.

And now back to the more mundane reasons. It is a very low maintenance session. You don't have to worry about your wardrobe or hairstyle (not that you will have the time to do it in the hospital anyway), or if your home is tided up or your older kids behave and cooperate. It is all as it is, and that is the beauty of it.

Last but not least, it is a very relaxed and quick session which is not to be underestimated. We are done in less than an hour (a bit longer for twins for obvious reasons :).

To wrap it up, it is important for me to create images that have emotional value and Fresh 48 is all about this. We captured a lot of firsts for Jose and Louna and their family - first time holding the twins together, first time of big sister meeting her younger sister, first time being a family of five. Take a peek at this very special session and don't miss to see the video film and absorb more of the twins' freshness: