First Birthday Photo Shoot Oxfordshire

First Birthday Photo Shoot

Of course we love photographing newborn babies. Newborn photoshoots are lovely, calm, relaxing affairs. Then there are sitter photo shoots around six months of age where baby might be sitting up or might be crawling. A bit of movement but nothing too alarming. And now we come to the first birthday photo shoot. Certainly some crawling, possibly some walking, definitely some mess and always a lot of fun.

When clients are having their newborn photographs done we often get on to the subject of the first birthday photo shoot. When we mention a cake smash they often give us a blank look. As with a lot of the ideas in our genre of photography, the Smash the Cake photoshoot hails from the US but it is proving increasingly popular over here. In fact our Oxfordshire Cake Smash Photoshoot is becoming one of the most popular sessions that we offer. So popular that we have had clients from Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. We’ve even had some clients from London coming to us for a 1st birthday photoshoot.

What to Expect?

So what is involved? It’s worth pointing out that many people don’t see the point in organising an official birthday party for their one year old. They’re not going to remember it and there’s a lot of effort and time involved. Many of our clients find that we become the ideal alternative. Baby gets to have a lot of fun and the parents get some beautiful images to remember their child’s first birthday by. (Or to put it another way – to celebrate the parents surviving a whole year). We also provide the cake and all the outfits so you do not need to worry about a thing.

We like to give parents a nice gallery of images to choose from so we aim to do three to four set ups (not just the cake smash). Generally we start with some family portraits. This is a nice way to gently introduce baby to the studio lights and the camera. Then we do some baby portraits with the O N E letters or a big number 1. Then comes then cake and we finish with splashes and bubbles in our specially designed roll top bath.

The Cake

The cake smash photoshoot is always an intriguing time to see how the babies react to the cake. Often their first birthday photoshoot is the first time that they will be allowed anything with sugar in like cake. We place them down next to the cake and aim to get some nice shoots before any destruction begins. Then we sit back, watch and wait. Sometimes they get stuck straight in and are quickly covered in brightly coloured buttercream. Other times they are horrified by the texture of the icing and they need a little help and encouragement. Normally as soon as they find the cake hiding beneath they are happy to get tucked in and start eating the cake or smashing it with a wooden spoon.

Whichever way it goes we are normally exhausted. But baby has a wonderful time and the parents leave with some lovely memories and a lovely clean, tired baby.

Get in Touch

We hope you have enjoyed reading about what we do for a living. Feel free to comment, like and share. If your little one has a milestone coming soon and would like some photos like these please get in touch. Visit our First Birthday Photo Shoot Section here or contact us here. You can find more examples of our work on our Facebook page here or our Instagram page here. Please try and book as early as possible to secure your preferred date.