09/25/2026
There’s something about photographing a baby’s first birthday that gets me every single time. 🤍
Maybe it’s because I know how quickly this season passes. One minute they’re this tiny little baby, and somehow you blink and they’re standing, laughing, running, and celebrating their very first birthday.
This sweet girl’s session was one of those reminders for me of why I love this job so much.
It’s not just about getting the perfect smile at the camera.
It’s the little looks. The belly laughs. The tiny details. The way mom and dad look at their baby. The moments in between the “posed” photos that are completely unplanned and completely real.
Those are the moments I want to remember.
And those are the moments you can’t recreate.
Photography can be hard to explain because, technically, you’re paying for a session that might take 20 minutes, 45 minutes, or an hour.
But that hour is only the part you see.
There’s a whole lot of love and work that happens around that hour, too.
There are years of learning and growing, investing in equipment, keeping everything insured and maintained, paying for the programs I use to carefully edit your images, delivering and storing your galleries, traveling, answering emails, planning sessions, and all of the little things that allow me to show up and give you the experience I want you to have.
And then there are the hours after your session that you don’t see—choosing the images, editing each one with intention, backing everything up, preparing your gallery, and making sure the finished photographs feel like you.
I don’t say any of that to make photography feel transactional.
Honestly, it’s the opposite.
It’s because I care so much about what I’m creating for you that there is so much that happens behind the scenes.
But even all of that isn’t what I think you’re really investing in.
You’re investing in the ability to freeze a version of your family that only exists right now.
Because this little girl will never be one again.
Her parents will never get this version of her back.
And years from now, these won’t just be pictures from a first birthday session.
They’ll be the photographs that take them right back to this exact little season—the way she looked, the way she laughed, the way she fit into their arms.
That’s the part you can’t put a price on.
There will always be different photographers, different styles, and different price points—and I truly believe there’s room for all of us.
But as I’ve grown in this business, I’ve also learned to value my own time, experience, creativity, and the work that goes into creating these memories.
So if my pricing looks different than it did when I was first starting out, there’s a reason for that.
It allows me to keep doing this work with the care and intention I believe your memories deserve.
Because at the end of the day, I’m not just taking pictures.
I’m preserving pieces of your life that you can never get back.
And that will always be worth so much more to me than an hour with a camera. 🤍
And to all of my fellow photographers: I hope you remember that, too. Your work is worth more than the amount of time your client sees you holding a camera.
