Oh am I excited to share this session with you! I was thrilled when I received a message from Katie that she wanted to celebrate Joeys second birthday with some photos. Katie is a dream and I’ve had the pleasure of photographing her family several times now. I’ve often talked about how I’m more than a Abergavenny photographer to my clients, I really like to build relationships with the people I get to meet. This really came into play whilst I helped Katie plan this session....
You see Katie and I have stayed in touch through instagram and I love seeing her posts and stories of her life. Seeing Joey grow up, his personality flourishing as well as his love of baking! Katie is often sharing images from her kitchen my favourite being the ones of Joeys face covered in their sweet creations! So during our consultation call for this session I suggested we throw Joey a cake smash and Katie loved the idea!
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The day itself started with lots of laughs. We met at Katies brothers home and headed to his fields. Fields full of sheep! As an Abergavenny photographer I can tell you this was nowhere near my first shoot where sheep made a cameo! Joey was thrilled and before I could get my lens cap off he was headed over to herd the unsuspecting sheep. Katie, her husband Dave and myself were in stitches watching as he so tirelessly tried to get close enough to get a sheep cuddle.
Joey being two means many things, one of them is that he has a whole world to discover and that was clear during this session. He was far too busy climbing trees, herding sheep, traversing hills and exploring, to sit nicely for a photo with Mummy and Daddy. We got plenty of action shots, very true to toddler life, a ball of energy zooming by! I decided it was great time to give the birthday boy his gift from me. At last we had something that would encourage Joey to sit with his parents! The family sat together and opened up the children book ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. See again thanks to my Insta stalking I knew this family were Beatles fans. Soon Joey was off again back to his important sheep herding job!
Time for cake!
Cake smashes are more common for children first birthdays but I’m a fan of them for all ages! I think it works really well for two year olds in particular. They’re at an age where they always wanting to be off doing something, curious about everything about them. Taking photos of them whizzing every which way can sometimes be tricky. BUT you plonk a whole cake in front of them and say, ‘go for it!’ They’re going to stay in that one place!
Joey couldn’t believe his luck! Mum and Dad say I can eat this whole thing?! Thinking this was too good to be true he began by delicately poking the buttercream with his finger, soon asking for a fork. It wasn’t until Katie and Dave told him to eat the cake like his pet dog at home that things really took off. That was it he was head first in there! Buttercream everywhere, sprinkles dotted all his smile, and boy what a smile!
A note from Katie.
This was such a fun session to be a part of, here’s what Katie had to say about it, “Sarah is an amazing photographer and lovely person! Nothing at all is too much trouble for Sarah, she goes above and beyond and it’s like talking to an old friend when you arrange your shoot! We have been very lucky to have two photo sessions with Sarah now and both times the photos have been out of this world! Sarah tells a story with her photos (which makes it soo difficult to pick as she clearly spends a lot of time making sure each shot is spot on!!). I have already told Sarah that she will be at every family occasion from now on! Haha. Thank you for freezing in time, precious memories of our family that we will cherish forever!! Xxx”
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