When Jen first reached out to me, she was nervous about how her toddler would behave during their session. The last time she tried to do a session with another photographer, they were not able to capture many portraits that she loved and her little one wasn’t in the mood to cooperate. I reassured her that this time, we would take our sweet time and let her daughter warm up to me & the studio, play games, and have lots of fun together. The thing that this mother wanted most was to “capture us happy.” We did just that.

I asked them all about Julianne’s interests and favorite things ahead of time, and had a few toys in the studio that I knew would capture her attention and motivate her to participate. From the moment she entered, she was eager to participate. As a mom of two littles myself, a former teacher, and a photographer of many years, I know how important this prep work is to help make sure little ones stay happy and engaged in the studio.

Julianne wowed her parents with how she sat right in the chair and giggled and smiled for me. She was so adorable, and wanted me to see her unicorn necklace in a few photos. We were careful with transitions, bringing mom and dad into the portraits when she was ready and giving her some say in everything because as we all know, toddlers like to be in charge!

With some patience and practice, we captured the cutest cuddles with mom and dad, and my squeaky toys were a big hit – they even found their way into a couple of photos! I was able to edit them out of a few images, but we left them in others because it’s part of the memory of their session and it’s what made her smile the most. Julianne did a phenomenal job, and really had a lot of fun. The whole time I kept “capture us happy” in mind, and I think we really managed to do that. In the end, Jen and Josh loved the gallery and we printed their favorites as an heirloom album so that they can relive these moments again and again with their little girl.

I’m so happy that we met our goal together - and had a great time doing so! As a family photographer, my job is to really listen to you and your needs so we can capture the moments that matter to you.