Baby milk bath sessions are coming back! | Arvada baby photographer

Babies grow and change so quickly during the first year of life. That tiny baby that was born just months ago is now playing, sitting, and maybe even crawling. My milestone sessions were designed specifically to capture important milestones like this. Each month I offer a slightly different milestone session theme to help you capture all the moments of the first year of your baby’s life.

This month’s baby milestone session is designed for babies 6-18 months. These baby milk bath sessions are perfect for any baby who is sitting well on their own and loves to play in the bath! I have 2 different themes for the bath sessions, the strawberry bath and the duckie sessions.

This month I am running a special on milk bath sessions in the Arvada studio space only! With your $99 booking fee you will receive 2 matted 5x7 images with the matching digital files. Additional images will be available for purchase after your session. To get more information and book contact me using the link below.

Jennifer Tavera is a Luxury family, maternity and newborn photographer in Denver Colorado who specializes in creating an experience that will make mom feel confortable, papered and beautiful so she will be excited to turn her portraits into art for her home. Sessions are available outdoors all over the Denver and Boulder area and studio sessions in the studio space in Arvada. Ready to start planning your dream session? Click below to schedule a call.

Jennifer

Balloon and floral cake smash | Arvada Baby photographer

Cake smash sessions have become a tradition as much as a senior portrait session is for a high school senior. They are a beautiful way to celebrate a baby’s first birthday and to capture a time when they are growing and changing so quickly. One of the things I am most excited about with the new studio space in Arvada is the ability to do cake smash sessions indoor for those who do not want to do them in their home. This session however is one that I shot in my own home 9 months ago, I cannot believe that I haven’t shared this beautiful baby girl on my bog yet! She is just too precious not to share even if it is almost a year later.

Every cake smash session starts with an idea. Sometimes it’s a theme, sometimes its just a few colors. Little miss Ruby’s mom knew she wanted to have a pink and gold cake smash. She saw another smash that I did last year with pink and gold flowers and loved it but I wanted to make her smash even bigger and better than the last and so I suggested the balloon arch with the flowers and vines incorporated and luckily she loved the idea!

When I do a cake smash I provide everything for the session so our next step, after I found the perfect balloons and floral, was to choose an outfit. I already had this adorable little sparkle dressing in my collection that was perfect with this theme so I just hand-made a custom headband to match the décor and complete the look!

The next step was the cake. I found a beautiful image of a cake similar to this in purples and knew it would be perfect. When you choose a smash cake you want the majority of the design to be on the side of the cake because that is the part that gets photographed the most. Luckily my favorite baker Cherry on Top bakery in Thornton, Colorado always takes my vision and makes it even better than I described!

You can expect three types of images from your cake smash session, first, before cake images, typically taken on the smash “set as your cake smash however the studio now gives me the space and freedom to do a second look for your before images if you would like. New we bring out the cake, this park looks in the photos like to take about 5 minutes but in reality I have had some kids take over and hour to get messy with the cake so don’t worry if your baby doesn’t dig right in. After the cake I can now offer milk bath images in my adorable little bath tub!

I would love to help you plan the perfect cake smash session for your baby. I have a list of theme ideas or I can create your vision or birthday party theme! Send me a message to set up a call and get all of the details!

Jennifer Tavera is a Luxury family, maternity and newborn photographer in Denver Colorado who specializes in creating an experience that will make mom feel confortable, papered and beautiful so she will be excited to turn her portraits into art for her home. Sessions are available outdoors all over the Denver and Boulder area and studio sessions in the studio space in Arvada. Ready to start planning your dream session? Click below to schedule a call.

Jennifer

My favorite images of 2020 {Northglenn, CO photographer}

With fewer than usual shoots in 2020, I thought doing a favorite image of 2020 post would be easy. But, as I look back through the images taken this year I realize choosing favorites is like trying to choose a favorite child. But, I have already started this post and so I am committing. Here are some of my favorite images taken in 2020, separated by category.

Favorite Maternity photos

Newborn Images

Family Portraits

Couples

Kids Portraits

Headshots

I wanted to take this moment to say THANK YOU to all of the amazing clients who supported my business in 2020. This year was not at all what we expected, and you trusted me in the middle of all of this to capture portraits of you and your family and that means the world to me! I look forward to many more shoots in 2021 and beyond!

Interested in more information about a session with me? Click the contact me button to book a free consolation call!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

10 tips for your cake smash! {Northglenn Baby Photographer}

Nothing is cuter than a baby covered in food, especially if that food is a Birthday cake! Cake smash sessions have become a huge tradition for first birthdays but they can take a lot of planning. I plan these sessions with my clients at the consultation call to make your session easy and so that everything is planned before you even put down your session fee so you can book in confidence. Even though I walk my clients through every step of these sessions I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a sneak peek into the process and the quality you will get doing your cake smash session with me. So here are 10 tips that I use to plan beautiful cake smash sessions for my clients.

1. Get your cake from a professional baker.

And when I say professional I don’t mean your local grocery store. There are 2 things that are VERY important when it come to the cake. #1 that it is not placed on plastic packaging that cannot be removed. There is nothing uglier than having a plastic bottom below your cake in an otherwise beautifully styled cake smash session. #2 The decorations need to be on the side. I remember early in my career there were several times when my clients provided the cake and it was plain white on the side which is all you see in at least 70% of cake smash images. Unless I shot all the photos from above you never saw the decor. This is why I have partnered with Cherry on top Bakery to provide the cakes for your session included in your session fee. She will custom design a beautiful cake to match the decor we have planned for your session.

2. Choose a theme

No, you don’t have to go all out with Elmo or Moana, but your session needs some kind of theme to give it a cohesive look. Your theme can be as simple as “pink and gold” or “nature-inspired” or more complicated like “unicorns” or “airplanes” but either way have a theme. Most moms will choose the theme of their babies party for the cake smash as well so if you are not sure that might be a great place to start. If you are not sure I will help you choose one during your consultation.

3. Choose a great location

The thing you want to consider is indoor or outdoor. Both have their advantage and disadvantage and in winter one is obviously going to be a better choice. For indoor, I can come to your home or you can come to mine. I will need a well-lit space with plenty of room and hardwood floors are best. For outdoor sessions, while I typically love locations with tall grass but for a cake smash, these locations don’t work well. During your consultation, we will discuss the best locations for a cake smash.

4. Give your baby cake before the session

The babies that really smash into their cake have had cake at least once before. even if it is just a tiny piece the week before I recommend letting them have cake before the smash.

5. Plan a minimum of 90 minutes

On average I spend about 90 minutes for setup, shooting, and clean up for a cake smash session. This includes about 45 minutes of shooting traditional portraits (No cake) 15-20 minutes shooting the cake smash and time to set up and clean up the session. Expect to spend a minimum of 90 minutes getting these images.

6. Don’t shoot your cake smash at their birthday party

I prefer cake smashes to be a separate session so we can just focus on amazing images of your child. Every once in awhile I am asked to come to shoot cake smash images at a child’s birthday party. I am going, to be honest, this is not ideal. There are too many people, too many distractions, rarely enough room for me to move, and get the angles I would like and I have little control over the setting and lighting. It’s best to plan a separate cake smash session and then another cake for the day of their party.

7. Ditch the high chair

Should you decide not to do a separate cake smash session and have them done at your child’s party, please ditch the high chair. Those high chair decoration kits from Etsy really don’t make the high chair less ugly. The best sessions are ones where the baby is sitting on the ground surrounded by the decorations with the cake In front of them. Choose a well-lit area that has plenty of space around it to set up.

8. Don’t rush baby

Cake smash images are deceiving, it always looks like the baby sat down and smashed up a cake in about 2-3 minutes. It normally takes most babies 10 minutes to even start to get messy. Don’t worry that is normal, let them take their time.

9. Come prepared for a mess

Don’t forget to pack a change of clothes, baby wipes, a wet washcloth in a ziplock bag, a towel to dry the baby off. Seriously they are going to get messy, bring all of the things.

10. Have fun with it

These photos aren’t about the perfect posed portrait, your baby is going to sit and eat the cake gingerly, barely look up, maybe cry, hopefully, get messy and eventually try to wander off. Don’t stress it, these are all about capturing something real. Sometimes baby dumps the cake and plays in it and sometimes they eat it gingerly with 2 fingers the whole time like a little prince or princess. Both are adorable and show their personality and either way, the portrait is going to be adorable hanging in your home! Let them be themselves and just enjoy the process along the way.

Sign up to join the birthday club and your child will get a free Monday Milestone session during their birthday month OR $100 off a cake smash session!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

You should do this every year for your child's birthday! {Denver Kids Photography}

Birthday’s in my house are a big deal. As a December baby who never had more than a few good friends at a time birthday parties when I was a kid were rare. It was hard being so close to the holidays and since I didn’t have a million friends to invite my chances of getting more than one kid, typically my best friend, to even show to a party was rare. So when my first born joined this earth the day before my birthday and 6 days before Christmas I swore that he would never go without a party, even if that party was our family and a few really good friends.

There is only one birthday tradition in our family that is more sacred than the birthday party, and that is the birthday portrait. Portraits of me that were not taken at school were more rare than birthday parties and lets face it that assembly line photography done on school portrait day does not typically show your best side. So every year, at very least once a year but typically a few times, my kids get a new portrait. Sometimes they are just traditional portraits, and sometimes they are birthday themed with balloons and decorations, and sometimes I go crazy and plan a shoot around their birthday party theme like this mermaid shoot I did for my 6 year old’s birthday session, it doesn’t matter much the type of portraits so much as documenting their lives as they grow and change.

The Birthday Club!

Monday Milestones

I launched my Monday Milestone sessions because I wanted to make it easy for families to have new images of their child captured every year. Like my children’s birthday sessions I offer traditional portraits, seasonal themes, customized birthday shoots and more to make your session special. Now I want to make it even easier to get those portraits taken for your child’s birthday!

Introducing the birthday club! Every year for your child’s birthday I will send them a birthday gift! In 2021 that gift will be a free Monday Milestone session! You birthday coupon code will trade in your $100 Monday Milestone session fee for a $50 deposit and session retainer that can be used towards your prints, a total of $100 in savings.

Get signed up now!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

Flagstaff Mountain, Boulder {Boulder photoshoot locations}

Flagstaff mountain is a beautiful location for portraits with its evergreen trees and mountain views. The mountain has a variety of small parks all along the road and some are better than others for shoots with smaller children so please make sure to let me know how old your children are when booking this location so I can recommend the best spot.

Best time of year for this location:

This location is beautiful all year-round and can be a great place if you are looking for some color for a winter session however if you choose this location for winter please make sure you have proper snow tires and are comfortable driving on snow-packed mountain roads if necessary.

Best time of day for this location:

This location can be a bit bright if you schedule for too early in the day so I always schedule here for the session to end around 10 minutes after sunset. those few minutes after the sun goes down are gorgeous here.

Parking:

This location does require you to pay cash for parking so make sure to bring a $5 bill along to pay the parking fees. Lots also fill up quickly on warm weekend days so make sure to arrive early to get a spot.

Other info for this location:

This location does require me to purchase a permit for commercial photography. I have included these costs in my session fee so it is no additional cost to you however I do need a 1-week notice to purchase the permit before the session so please plan ahead.

Ready to book a session at this location or just get more information? Fill out the form below for instant access to my session guide and I will contact you to answer any questions you have or help you reserve your session time.

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 12 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

Standley Lake Regional Park, Westminster Colorado {Westminster Maternity Photographer}

Standley lake is a beautiful location with the mountain views, gorgeous lake and occasional wildflowers. It is a great spot for mountain views if you are not up for a trip into the mountains. Here is a little more information about a session at this location.

Best time of year for this location:

This location is beautiful year-round however the winds here can get very chilly in the winter. If you are choosing this location for a winter shoot it is a good idea to have a backup location. Because of the open fields and lake the winds tend to be worse at this location than at other spots, but if you can catch it on a day with low winds this location is gorgeous for photos!

Best time of day for this location:

Sunset!! I know what you are thinking, that seems to be my answer for every location. Yes it is but with this location because of the lack of shade I shoot here exclusively at sunset.

Parking:

There are several spots to park around the lake to park, some paid and some free, I typically use one of the two free parking lots which are a little further from the lake but both have some great spots near the parking as well as access to the lake if we want to get closer. If you select this location we will agree on a spot to park before your session date.

Other info for this location:

On hazy of cloudy days the mountains are not always visible. If you have your heart set on a mountain backdrop I recommend getting a little closer to the mountains for better visibility however this spot does have more than the mountains going for it so either way I can capture beautiful portraits here.

Get more information on a session at this location or any of the beautiful locations in Denver, Boulder or the surrounding mountains by downloading my session planning guide! Fill out the form below for instant access to the guide!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 13 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

How to prepare for a family photo session {Northglenn Colorado Photographer}

Last weekend my family had our family photos taken, let me tell you photos with a family of 5 kids and a husband who doesn’t really love picture day can be a huge headache but we made it through and with my own session fresh in my mind I have decided I need to create a checklist for all of you to help make your session run more smoothly. Here are the steps you need to take to make sure your family photo session will go off without a hitch

Setting up your session:

• Choose a photographer. Make sure you love their style of images including types of photos you see in their portfolio, editing style and the products they offer (canvases or other wall art products). Hopefully, your photographer is me and you already have that part covered!

• Set up a date, time and location. make sure to think about where you are going to hang the images when you choose the location. For me I really wanted them hanging in my dining room and was picturing a mountain backdrop. When you book with me, I will send you location suggestions based on your vision so tell me a little bit about what you have in mind. You can also check out my favorite locations on my locations Pinterest board.

Planning your wardrobe

I’ve done several blog posts just on this subject so if you want more details than I give here, check out this recent blog post just on choosing clothing for families.

• Choose colors for your family photos. You will want to choose at least two colors to mix and match throughout the group, even if one of them is a neutral. I knew I wanted royal blue to match the walls in my dining room so I started with blue and white. Later I added khaki pants on all of the boys so it was 3 colors total.

• Add accessories. When planning our session I chose a blue and white checkered shirt for my middle son but I know he couldn’t be the only one with white in his outfit so I added a white sweater on my oldest daughter and a blue sweater with white “fur” on my younger daughter, then I found a white shawl

for me and added pearl necklaces on all 3 girls. Next, I wanted to make sure that my husband’s shirt that was a slightly lighter blue didn’t look out of place so I added flower crowns for my girls in the same color blue. The accessories really tied together all of the outfits so no one person stood out in the group.

• Check their shoes!!! The easiest thing to forget when planning a session is to make sure everyone has shoes that are going to look good in the photos (no cartoon characters or bright colors that will draw your eye to the shoes instead f your faces) and make sure they fit! Don’t wait until the day before or day of the session to do this. If your child hasn’t worn their dress shoes in months and you plan to have them wear them for the session have them try them on to make sure they still fit and look great.

• Make sure you will be warm enough. As I write this it is fall and the weather is quickly getting colder. In a few weeks it will be November and warm clothing options for your session will be a MUST. For our session I planned sweaters for my girls, long sleeve shirts WITH UNDERSHIRTS for my boys, a shawl for myself since my dress was off the shoulder and I even brought a white blanket for the baby so that I could wrap him in it when it got chilly and still have it match our clothing colors. You will want something your small kids can wear in the session to keep them warm in case it’s a cold day. Look for cute sweaters, jackets, layered clothing or even cute matching winter hats!

Pack a bag before the session day with things you might need

My bag might look a little different than yours based on the age of your kids but this was what went in my photo session bag.

• Extra diapers, underwear and pants (that would still match our colors) for my 2 year and 2 month old.

• A toy that I didn’t mind being in the photo. Make a favorite stuffed animal, a favorite book you could read your little one, a vintage-looking toy (I love toy airplanes, rag dolls etc).

• Safety pins, bobby pins, hair clips. Just in case.

• A quilt and a blanket that matched our session colors. I will typically bring a quilt and some stools to most of my family sessions and try to match them to your clothing however it is also a great idea to bring your own, especially if it has any sentimental value, for fun shots of the family hanging out on the quilt or wrapping themselves in it.

• A brush and a lint roller.

• Baby wipes and/or a wet rag.

• A spray bottle with water or detangler.

• Clean snacks (I avoid bringing these out of the car during the session, often once kids see them they just want more and more and then they have food in their mouth in all of the images, however it is great to have them on hand just in case.

Arrive early to the session.

Now that you have everything you need for the session itself plan to arrive early, especially if you have little ones. We planned to be there 45 minutes early so that we could dress my 5-year-old, 2-year-old and 2-month-old there as well as feed the baby a bit before we started. Even when we were running a little late this still got us there in time for a quick feeding and to be ALMOST ready by the time our photographer arrived. Let’s face it as moms it’s sometimes hard to get anywhere on time with the whole family so do yourself a favor and plan to be early.

A few things you shouldn’t do to prep for your session

• Don’t practice smiling with your kids. You will make your kids overthink their smile and they will be less likely to e natural and relaxed for the session.

• Don’t Bring messy snacks to give them before or during the session. This seems like a no brainer but it happens all the time so it is worth saying.

• Don’t Bribe your children Ok sometimes a bribe might be necessary, but it also tells the kids that this may not be fun, why else would mom and dad need to bribe us? My goal is to just make the session as fun as possible and use the brides as a last resort. Also, keep in mind that small children will not wait a long time for a bribe. If they are promised something after the session they typically start to get frustrated that they have not received the bride within the first 15 minutes of the session. After that, it can be hard to get them to cooperate because often they start to believe that the promised bribe is not really coming. So save the brides for getting those last few poses after your kids have started to tire of the session. Instead tell them “we are going to go to the part and a photographer is going to take pictures of us while we play together”.

My Family

Photo by: Reflection Photography, edited by me :)

I hope this helps make planning your session easier for your next family photos! If you would like more advice on preparing and information about the session process and pricing please download my session guide below!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 12 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

Clear Creek History Park, Golden CO {Denver Photoshoot Locations}

Part of the planning process for your photo session is of course picking the perfect location. There are so many amazing locations in the Denver and Boulder areas that it can be hard to choose which is best and I find myself often emailing or texting images back and forth to clients. So in an effort to make my job and your choice easier I am starting a series of blogs featuring all of my favorite locations with a variety of images and details on each location. I hope this will give you as my clients a better look at what a session at each of these locations looks like and help you choose the one that is right for your session! So here is the first of many locations I love for sessions!

I chose this location as my first to feature because it has so many different looks within a short walk from each other. Believe it or not all of the spots shown below are within a 5-minute walk from one another.

Best time of year for this location:

Year-round, with the great old buildings and beautiful spots along the river this location has some great spot even in the winter when the trees are dead.

Best time of day for this location:

Honestly, the answer to this for almost all of my locations is sunset, if you would like the mountains behind you or the shot with the white schoolhouse you are going to want a sunset session however this location does have some spots where shade can be found for morning sessions.

Parking:

This location free parking for the park and additional parking on the river side at the library. When we plan your session I will tell you which side to meet me on based on where I plan to start your session.

Other info for this location:

The biggest conflict for this location is local festivals. Make sure to check Golden’s festival schedule to see if anything is scheduled near the park. I do not book this location during the weekend of Buffalo Bill Days or other large festivals in the area. Check the festival schedule here: https://www.visitgolden.com/events/festivals-of-golden/

Get more information on a session at this location:

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 12 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

4 tips for photo shoots with your toddler {Northglenn Colorado photographer}

Your baby is now walking, toddling around getting into everything and destroying your home. If they weren’t SO ADORABLE even when making a huge mess they may not survive their toddler years.

In all seriousness though it’s how quickly they are changing and how adorable they are that makes us want beautiful professional photos of them at this age, and it’s their rambunctious spirit and tendency to do the opposite of what we asked or hoped they would do that makes the idea stressful for most parents of toddlers. So for all of you mama’s who are longing for beautiful portraits of your toddler or family together to hang proudly on your wall like all of the other moms, this post is for you!

4 Tips for photo shoots with your toddler

Tip #1: Have realistic expectations

This one is always the hardest so I am starting with it first. The most important thing you can do to prepare for your shoot with your toddler is to have realistic expectations. Your toddler is very unlikely to cooperate right off the bat. They may be shy and take a few minutes to warm up the photographer and just want to hide behind you, they may be wild and just want to run around at the park or explore or play with the grass, but if you are expecting AMAZING smiling at the camera portraits in the first 5 minutes you are going to wind up frustrated and feeling defeated very quickly. When I photograph a toddler, the first few minutes for me are about capturing them as they are. .It’s not about the “perfect smiling portrait at this point. I will sit, talk to them see what they do, see how they react to different games, let them do their own thing as a snap a few photos and then see if I can get them to look at me.

I don’t like to push too hard at the very beginning and overwhelm them and sometimes I can see parents start to panic within even a few minutes or feel like they need to step in and try to get a smile. The problem is that then the child is interacting with and LOOKING at you, not the camera. There are times that I ask parents to get a babies attention or make them smile but if your baby is relaxed and just doing their own thing hold off on this for just a moment. Let me capture some moments of them just being them, learning, exploring a new place, being a toddler. Sometimes these wind up being the favorite photos from the session.

Tip #2: Make sure to hire a professional who is experienced with toddlers

Honestly could just say here make sure to hire me, I have 12 years experience as a professional photographer and specialize in children’s and family portraiture, but in case you stumbled across this blog and are not in the Denver or Boulder Colorado areas here is what you should look for when hiring a photographer.

When it comes to photographing a wiggly toddler you are going to want someone who has worked with toddlers long enough to know how to capture great portraits of them whether they sit perfectly and smile or run around and don’t stay still for more than two seconds. Ask your photographer how long they have been in business AND what types of photography they specialize in to make sure you are getting someone who really knows what they are doing.

Tip #3: Bribes are great but…

Trying to bride a toddler to cooperate is a double-edged sword. While it can produce the results you want just as often I see it go horribly wrong, so here are a few things to consider when deciding if you want to try to bride or reward your toddler for cooperating.

First, toddlers have short attention spans and once a treat is mentioned you have a very short time to produce the promised reward before most toddlers will go from cooperation to meltdown. For this reason, I recommend NOT promising a toddler any sort of reward before the session or in the first few minutes of the session. Bribes and rewards should be saved as last resorts. Instead, tell them how fun the session will be and that they are going to go play games and have fun. This rule applies to preschoolers as well although the meltdowns at that age over not getting their reward right away don’t come quite as quickly.

Never show the child the reward unless you are prepared to give it to them, and have it in any photos from that point on. Again seeing the reward and not immediately receiving it normally just results in tears. If you want to get clever with it was can plan the reward into the session. I once had a family bring those giant multi-colored spiral lollipops as a reward for the session and we ended the session with a fun, casual family photo of all of them eating the lollipops. It was a great way to reward the kids and grab some fun unique photos at the session and if you let me know about the plan in advance I can even prepare a few props to go with the theme.

Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to bring a favorite toy

Yes a photo shoot with me is about capturing the perfect photo but its also about capturing the memories and moments you want to remember! Pick something you WANT to have in the photos. The same rule applies to toy as it does to bribes, don’t let your child know you have t until you are ready to have it in the rest of the photos for the shoot, but it can be perfect for the end of the session when your child is getting bored with being there to pull it out and capture a few more shots of your little one planing and just doing what they do.

Although this may not be what most photographers would consider a "perfect shot" as a mom to me it's perfect. I know years from now it will remind me of how much my son LOVED firetrucks at this age.

Want to have me photograph your toddler? My Monday milestones are perfect short sessions for capturing your child alone at this age. You can find more information below!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, the photographer behind Truth Photography. I am a Northglenn Colorado family photographer and gallery designer seeking adventurous, free spirited families. I believe that your life is epic and deserves to be captured with photography!

I specializes in creating unique photo sessions that will be an adventure for your child or family and turning the finished portraits into beautiful wall art for your home. I can’t wait to photograph your next adventure!!

~Jennifer Tavera Photographer and Gallery designer

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