Ayla | 18 Months of Sweetness

I've been photographing Miss. Ayla for well over half of her life.

 Let me tell you, she is one serious cookie! We always find something to open her personality up for the camera ... jewels have been a winner in the past, this time a combination of mom chasing her and flower balls made the winner list. A word to wise, if you have a fast moving toddler, seriously just come to the session in your work-out gear because the best game of all is called Chase the Baby. You chase, place back in front of camera, they laugh/smile/give mischevious grin and off they go. Rinse and Repeat.  

I'm pretty sure at every session Ayla has stuck her tongue out at me. This time, she was a bit more creative with the rolled tongue trick! 

I might be 'just' the photographer, but I see these babies grow up before my eyes in front of my lens. I remember the color of their eyes from the previous session {and often times they change just a slight amount in color}. I remember their smile and personality. Your babies have a piece of my heart. I love seeing them. It is about more than just a 'job' to me ~ while I love what I do for a living ~ I love the connections made with these little souls and your family. 

Even if you have the most energetic, on-the-go toddler - we can still capture sweet milestone images of them being themselves. It just requires patience and a 'what happens happens' attitude. And one of the reasons I added doors to my studio was because of toddlers planning their escape route - though Ayla has mastered opening doors {now I must install child-proof door openers ha}. 

Although Easter is over, we placed Ayla in an Easter/spring set. Who doesn't love a bunny, flowers and a teddy bear? 

I love the collages for milestone sessions because you can add many images from the one session and not take up a lot of room on the wall. Let's be honest, we would all hang 16x20s of every favorite image from every milestone of our children on our wall if we had the space. I think it makes sense to have a large newborn image followed by smaller collages of their milestones through the year on the wall. And, then maybe another large image of their 1 year {and subsequent years} on the wall.

This is a 20x10 collage {LOVE} which sounds large but in reality is not. And because of it's slender height of 10 inches, it fits nicely on a wall of images. We can change the color of the background as well. The frames for this collage can be found at Michaels {and I'm sure other places} for under $20.

This is a 16x20 collage. This collage style doesn't work with all images from sessions. It is important to have one image that has enough room on the side or top {as we could flip this to be horizontal instead of vertical}. But the size is perfect for showing off a milestone set of images. 

If you are curious about other collage ideas, check out previous blog posts. I try to always post a few collage options at the end of a posting.