First Birthday Fun! - Brisbane Baby Photographer

It wasn't so long ago that first birthday photoshoots were all about doing a "Cake Smash Session".

It was a cute idea in theory, a half-naked baby making a great big mess with an enormous cake. Seems so fun on the surface!

Well, after photographing them for a few years, I soon came to realise that more often than not

The babies didn't enjoy the experience

of the cake smash photoshoot at all.

And since I am all about a positive and enjoyable photography experience, I didn't feel good about photographing cake smash sessions anymore.

I think a few reasons that the babies weren't happy with the cake smash could be:

Most babies hadn't tasted cake before and were wary of it
Many became afraid when put by the cake with everyone watching them
1 year old babies are often cutting teeth which hurts their mouth

Most of the time, within minutes of getting underway the little poppets were crying and sad and covered in cake and icing because we had smeared it all over them hoping they would smile and look like they were eating and enjoying it.

Then to try and cheer them up and salvage the photoshoot time, we would wash them up, change into their nice clothes and pop out to the garden for a fresh scene - and almost instantly they would cheer up, much happier about being outside.

Cue cute portraits galore!

I also feel that given the time and investment into your family photoshoot, it makes sense to include everyone in the session - after all it is a family celebration to have made it through the first year of parenthood!

We still capture "First Birthday celebration" photos with balloons, crowns, bunting flags and even a cake as a prop if you want to bring one.

Hugo's birthday session was all outside with his parents and we made use of some of my props as well to show the milestone of learning to stand while holding onto a support. I find most kids love the antique tricycle I have as well!

In the studio we can document all the beautiful first birthday things like BIG smiles! It is warm and cosy for shirtless photos (or cool with the aircon in summer!) and we play tickle games and peek-a-boo which the 1 year olds love!

And while this next image is better known for newborn photoshoots, it is still a beautiful capture we can create for you if you didn't do a newborn shoot. It is one of the most popular family photography images I create, I think because it is a lovely contemporary take on a classic family photo.

Hannahs birthday session included flowers, ONE letters and even a big balloon and fancy cake her parents brought in. This is a great way to incorporate cake without the mess and tears - and when you have such a beautiful birthday cake as this one was, how lovely to have it documented in a special birthday photoshoot like this as well!

One of the always-popular games for one-year-old babies is the airplane game, I seriously love this one too because both kids and dads look like they are having so much fun!

Vihaan was another one-year-old who loved the outdoor photo session playing cuddle games with his parents and riding the trike! I seriously love how excited the kids are about the simple and lovely things in life.

Evie's mum brought this cute romper and we were all very taken with her crawling around like a cute little monster! While I don't have this outfit in my collection, I do have a children's wardrobe with dresses for girls and newsboy hats and bow ties for boys.

Sometimes we can create really cool time-lapse imagery. Here is Evie's "Watch me grow" photo that we captured over the three sessions she came for - newborn, sitter and birthday!

For the Davey triplets we created a "Then and Now" photo with images from when they were born and still in the NICU. You would never know meeting these bouncing babbling babies that they started out so tiny and fragile!

We can do a mix of some in-studio photos as well as outdoor photos at the one session. A lot of families love this option because you can enjoy the best of both styles and get a lot of variety in your photoshoot gallery.

We capture all the first birthday milestones - such as standing up (even if it is with some help from a chair or mum and dad!)

And classic timeless portraiture like this image of Bryce sitting in the garden, all chubby cheeks and a thoughtful stare! (To be honest, I think she was watching a butterfly)

Oscar is another cute 1 year old who loved getting into the props in the studio gardens. How adorable that newsboy hat is with the trike, and I can only imagine what that teddy has said to him given his reaction here too!