The Parenthood Journey: Milestones to photograph in the first year
The parenthood journey is something to celebrate!!
And, What better way to celebrate something than with photography!
Every new little event in your baby’s first year are so fun to capture with photography, weather this is with your phone camera, your own DSLR, or by hiring a professional photographer. I wanted to give you a quick little reference list of things to be sure to photograph in your baby’s first year that are not the standard baby milestones (such as rolling over, holding up their head, etc….although some do fall under standard baby milestones).
Baby’s First Year Milestones to Photograph
Smiling
“Yeah!! They baby smiled at me!”
When your baby first starts to smile it just warms your heart like nothing you’ve ever felt. Photographing your child's first smiles with a simple photo is something to treasure for years to come.
Tasting their toes and hands
“Oh man, they put everything in their mouth!” Babies love to explore things they find by putting them in their mouths…hence all of the childproofing around the house. But, when your little one is laying on their back or side, and holding onto their feet and tasting their toes, it is just the cutest little stage and definitely worth photographing. One way to do this is to stand directly over your baby. They may make eye contact with you while tasting their toes which makes for a very engaging photo.
A Long Quiet Nap In Crib
“You finally got to take a break!”
I don’t know about you….but when my girls were babies sleep did not always occur where or how I wanted it to….so when they take a long quiet nap in their crib, all cute and rosy, or curled into a tiny ball, it’s worth photographing. There are a few fun ways to do this…one is from the doorway using that as a framing tool. Another is from directly overhead where you can have the crib to frame the baby. Be sure you are standing on something safe to do this and hold your phone/camera tight (better yet have it on a strap where you can’t drop it!). And thirdly, you can photograph them through the slats of the crib sleeping. The slats of the crib provide very unique patterns, and framing opportunities.
Crawling
“Oh man…where are they off to now? Nothing is safe!”
Babies typically crawl between 7-10 months, and this is a BIG milestone as they are now officially on the move!! Capturing them in motion is really a fun way to show their stage. First, I recommend getting all the way down on their level to photograph crawling…so, get down on the floor, and have your camera close to the floor too. This will show their unique perspective of the world. If you want to freeze their movement, make sure you have a faster shutter speed selected. You can also take a creative photo and blur their movement with a slower shutter speed to show just how fast they are crawling around!
Pulling Up To Stand
“Yeah!! You’re standing by yourself!”
When you see your little one pulling up to stand and using furniture to cruise around, its always with a bit of awe that they have grown SO much in such a short period of time! To photograph this milestone I recommend getting down low, on their eye level, and taking the photograph wide enough that their whole body is visible so you can see what they are doing. You can also use the furniture that they’re holding onto to create a leading line composition in the image.
Sitting Unassisted
“Oh gosh, you’re sitting on your own!”
When little ones are sitting up without assistance, they are SO proud of themselves, and SO cute!! This is one of my favorite milestones to photograph because the babies can’t move very much, and are so smiley. This sitter stage usually happens between 6- 7 months, and is a milestone when I always recommend photos. If you plan to photograph your new sitter at home, I recommend getting down on their level to photograph them, as this leads to a really nice composition, particularly when photographed with a plain background, or shallow depth of field.
Walking With Support
“Oh no, they are on the move….we need to get baby proofed asap!”
When your little one can walk while holding your two hands, or the hands of two people, it is such a milestone. This can be fun to photograph where you see the little one standing and holding onto the hands, but the adults do not need to be fully photographed.
Walking
“Better get the baby gates all up!”
Little toddling toddlers are the cutest, and so fast and on the move. Photographing a new walker is always fun as they are moving, smiling, and adventuring. If you are photographing your little one, be sure to use a fast shutter speed, and get down on their level. For some babies, walking can happen as early as 9 months…for others it’s around their first birthday, and still for some it happens between 12 and 18 months.
Playing Peek a boo
“Boo!”
One surefire way to get smiles and eye contact is to play peek-a boo with your little one! And, even better is when they play peek a boo with you. This can be a little tricky when you are holding a camera….so I recommend having an assistant to play peek a boo first right next to you, and then you can do it with your camera as well.
Do you have any other tips to recommend for how and when to photograph babies during their first year? I’d love to hear in the comments!!
Check out these other family session posts on the blog…
