Preserving Milestones: The Significance of Documenting Your Baby’s First Year

As a portrait photographer in the Baltimore, Maryland, area, I work with many couples and families for maternity and newborn sessions. After that, life gets very busy, and before they know it, a year has passed and it’s time for the big first birthday celebration! These families are always so grateful that I remind them to schedule sessions for more photos during that precious first year. Documenting the first year of your child’s life through gorgeous professional photos is such a treasure and a gift that keeps on giving.

Here are a few tips on why investing in professional portraits by documenting your baby’s first year of life is so worth it:

• Track baby’s growth. I always find it fun to look at photos of the same tiny human at different milestone ages and see how much they’ve grown. They say the days are long but the years are short, and I think nothing makes that feel quite so true as when you are comparing one year old photos with the newborn photos you surely just took “yesterday”. You look back in awe at how much your love for this little person has only deepened. You wish time would slow down and resolve to savor every moment moving forward. That is a beautiful place to be.
• Compare pictures with baby’s parents or siblings at that age. Family resemblances are always fun to identify, and it can be even more fun comparing members of the family at the same age or even doing a similar pose or activity. 
• A memento from your child’s babyhood. The early years go by so fast. You think you’ll never forget a thing about the way your baby looks at each age or the things they do at every stage, but it’s so easy to get used to each new age and skill that you can forget a lot about their first year. What better way to immortalize those precious young days than through photos of your sweet baby? 
• Guaranteed quality photos. It can be surprisingly hard to get pictures of little babies without a portion of the image being blurred because of a kicking leg or busy little arms. If you are struggling with capturing non-blurry images or pictures that don’t have a mess in the background, then knowing you have scheduled photoshoots in your baby’s first year will bring peace of mind. You can relax knowing that you will end up with high quality photos of your child that you’re proud of, so you can focus on being present and enjoying the moment with your little one. 
• Precious wall art. Is there any more darling wall decor than high quality images of your beloved baby? With photos from various photoshoots through your baby’s first year, you can have fun mixing and matching photos on a gallery wall. A trio of large frames with your favorite pictures from the newborn shoot, 6 month shoot, and 1st year shoot would be such a fun way to show your baby’s growth. Or a gallery wall with a smattering of pictures from the newborn photoshoot that you can change out as you receive each new batch of photos from subsequent shoots. You can keep a fresh photo rotation on your wall or order beautiful canvas prints to hang in different rooms of your house. The possibilities are endless, and there is much fun to be had as you decorate your walls in the most meaningful of ways. The best part is, baby pictures don’t expire! Those baby cheeks will look just as precious in that frame when they are headed off to kindergarten. 
• Great gifts for your partner or the grandparents. Not only do professional quality pictures of your babe make for great decor in your own home, they make wonderful gifts for loved ones as well! A framed photo of your baby will look so sweet on your partner’s office desk or bedside table. And whose mother or mother-in-law would not fawn over a photobook of her precious grandbaby? There are dozens of options for creative and sentimental gifts you can give for Christmas, birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or even Grandparent’s Day. You can have so much fun picking out classy gifts like canvas prints, framed photos, or photobooks to creative gifts like calendars, puzzles, pillows, mugs, and so much more! 
• Make traditions. There are many ways to create meaningful traditions with these photoshoots. Some choose to take pictures with the same poses for each of their children and showcase them alongside each other, showing the uniqueness and similarities of each beautiful baby. Or you could start a gift tradition by giving family members a photo gift each year as you continue documenting your child’s life and growth. 

Documenting your baby’s first year is a special opportunity that only comes around once. I am passionate about photographing little ones in the Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC, areas, and I love to help families capture these milestone moments. I offer portrait session bundles for baby’s first year that you can mix and match to suit your family’s needs. If you are interested and would like more details, or if you are ready to book, then you can reach me here. I would love to hear from you and look forward to taking the next steps in creating pieces of art for your family!