Evie’s One Year Portraits

San Diego Family Portraits

Our Baby Girl Is One! | Photographing Our Own Family Portraits

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hey all said the first year would fly by… boy, was that an understatement. The first year of Evie’s life has been so special. She has shown me a type of love that we never thought was possible. My precious girl is so much like her daddy (looks and personality), but characteristics of mommy shine through every now and then. She is energetic, strong-willed, joyful, curious, and also very sensitive. She is LOUD and outgoing, but can also be very shy at times. Her love for animals is the cutest thing – I hope it never goes away.

The morning of this photoshoot, Evie took her first steps. I was so bummed because we didn’t get a video of it (although I can’t be too hard on myself – it’s not like I knew it was about to happen). When we arrived at Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, a part of me was hoping she would do it again, and this time, my camera would be out and I would be ready. We took a few “posing” pictures, then just let her be while we stood back and watched. She walked around as much as she possibly could on the uneven dirt trail before falling, and we snapped lots of photos and video. Watching her wobble around on her chunky legs is one of the most adorable things I have ever seen, and I am so grateful we have these photos to look back on.

If you’re wondering how we were able to get photos of all three of us together – we had some help! We have tried the self timer/tripod method, but it can be so tedious and time-consuming, and with a fussy one-year-old, that just doesn’t work anymore. Luckily, we were able to get some help from Brian’s brother! Since he is not a photographer and had never even used our camera before, we basically did most of the work beforehand so he knew exactly how we wanted the photo to look. Brian posed with the baby where we wanted to be for the photo, while I got the camera settings and composition set up. I put the focus point where I wanted it to be, then snapped a photo to show exactly how we wanted the composition to look. Then all his brother had to do was stand exactly where I stood when I took the photo, making sure the focus point is on the same place that it was when I set it up, then hit the shutter until we thought we got enough to work with! Sounds complicated, but his brother did an amazing job, and the majority of them were actually in focus! We were super impressed!

I hope you enjoy some of my favorites from my family portrait session!