What if my toddler is cranky during our family photo session? - Seattle Family Portrait Photographer

What is the number one concern for parents with little ones about doing a family photo session? It’s worrying about their toddler simply not having it the day of the session.

I get that concern, especially after all of that work you’ve put in before the shoot.

I thought I would show you what this can look like. This session is a perfect example of a challenging time with a one year old (and a dog) can look like.

This is in no way shape or form to call anyone out, or to complain. THIS IS NORMAL! I’m just here to explain that you can relax a little when worrying about how your toddler will cooperate during our session. Let’s face it, sometimes…. they just just aint havin’ it!

Don’t sweat it, I GOT YOU!

Tawnya is a single mamma and this is her little one year old Avery. She also is the proud dogmamma to this one-hundred pound rescue dog, Brodie. (GAHH you have have no idea how much I love this dog)

Here is the story of our session. A little rocky at some points, but turned out wonderful in the end. To be honest- I seriously hadn’t a clue if I got many great shots when the shoot was over. Her smiles happened so quickly, and she didn’t sit still for long. Basically, two out of three of my subjects had their own agenda.

Tawnya and I left the session feeling a little defeated. Usually I just feel confident that I nailed it. But things were moving so fast during this session, I had no idea what happened. Isn’t it funny how our brains remember the hard moments? Why do they do that?

On bringing your dog. Skip over if your not a dog owner. Also same rules apply if you bring your cat.

I ALWAYS SAY YES TO DOGS.

Here are a few tips and tricks to make this a little easier.

If your dog isn’t super well behaved(no judgement) or if your dog is like mine- who sees other dogs and completely turns his ears off-just know this is a challenge and while we are putting energy into the dog, we could loose shots of your little ones.

That being said, maybe bring a long rope (and a bowl for water)and we can hitch em’ up to a tree so we can relax and keep shooting. DON’T FORGET THE TREATS! This helps to grab the dogs attention.Also, it’s not a warm day, you could let your dog wait in the car for the second half of the session. Just ideas.

So, the night of our session arrives…

Our little superstar Avery goes to bed later in the evening which allowed us to shoot during golden hour. That was a HUGE bonus for capturing that beautiful evening light.

But on this particular day, little Avery refused her nap. She passed out completely on the way to the shoot. “OF COURSE SHE DID” says a nervous mother.

Avery is a sweet and easy going in general. On this night, however, she simply was not having us. She didn’t want to be held, she wanted to go this way instead of that way, she wanted to keep holding on to her blanket -and suck on her sucky. This is all normal.

At that point I figured we would have to stop pestering the poor child with kisses and hugs from her mamma. I wasn’t sure what I had gotten yet either, she was on the move. I felt it was time to be done with the shoot, OR we could try a change of scenery….a hail Mary.

We made the one minute drive down to Lowman Beach from the forest area of Lincoln Park. I love Lincoln Park because of the privacy, the lighting, and the fact this little slice of beach is so easy to get to.

Most importantly, this is a change of scenery both for your kids and for your gallery.

The sun was low, the light was great, and we bought some time from our little super model. She gave us a happy fifteen minutes, which was all I needed to complete my mission.

When I got home and looked through the images -I let out a huge sigh of relief. I hope that I captured Avery’s personality and showed how beautiful she is inside and out. And you can see the love in her mamma’s eyes. And there are always those real and raw moments as well, I find those equally important.

In the end, the lovely Tawnya got a gallery with 86 edited photos.

Take a peek for yourselves. Thank you for reading this, I hope it helped!

This is a slide show (below) click to enjoy.