Baby photo shoot with all the family

I first met this adorable little boy earlier in the year when I had the pleasure of photographing his newborn portraits. I was thrilled to go back last week to update the family album and take some pictures when his grandparents, uncle, and aunt were visiting from America.  It’s always such a pleasure to meet the extended family and take pictures that record these relationships. It’s also lovely to see how much he had grown in the last four months, the first-year flies by so fast and the changes are so quick, it’s always fun to do multiple sessions and newborn, four months, eight months and a year are the perfect combination to really tell the story.

One of the things I love most about photographing a four-month-old baby is those first smiles – by this age most little ones will have a cheeky little grin and this little boy’s was absolutely adorable with his tongue poking out and laughter in his eyes, I smile myself every time I look at this picture.

At this age babies are also so inquisitive, looking to see what is going on around them, maybe even trying to stand and loving all the classic games of being bounced on a knee or held in the air. It’s a delight to record these in pictures.

Pictures of babies and grandparents will always have such a special place in my heart and so I was thrilled to be able to photograph this lovely little boy with his grandfather and grandmother who were both clearly so thrilled to spend time with him. I love the shot of him sitting on his grandmother’s knee, so focused on his grandfather’s hand while they both look down on him with such looks of love. Who wouldn’t want a picture like this with their grandparent when they are older. That, together with the close-up where we can see how tightly he holds his grandfather’s finger, and the sheer scale of size between them make for a beautiful paring which will work together so well on the pages of an album.

I’m an aunt myself and so I think it’s one of the best relationships ever and it was lovely to see his uncle and aunt so thrilled with their new nephew and having such fun playing with them. They had bought the most amazing presents too and the book about the Wonky Donkey they gave him might well make its way into my niece’s Christmas stocking, it was hilarious.

After a very wet start to the day, we were lucky enough to have a very brief bout of sunlight and, even though naptime was looming, we nipped out for a quick set of pictures in the beautiful autumn sunlight. The light was incredible, and I loved making use of the direct sunlight for some cool lens flare effects to bring a cinematic feel to a family portrait as well as using the shadows to add extra dimensions.  We weren’t outside for long but I’m so glad we got out and about for a few pictures on such a beautiful day.

It was a lovely morning and so wonderful to see everyone and create this beautiful set of memories of his first thanksgiving and their lovely time together as a family. I hope you enjoy them.