The First Year of You - Edmonton lifestyle & baby photographer

Choosing our “The First Year of You” Collection is a no-brainer. Starting with maternity or newborn photos–in the studio or in your own home–we then do a lifestyle session in the studio when baby is sitting up. These images capture the milestones of her first independence. Once baby is walking or nearly walking (around one year old) you come back to the studio with the whole family for her milestone session, rounding out the year. Below is an account from Poppy’s First Year of You from this past year, and words from her Mom.

When our daughter was first born, visitors coming to meet her for the first time would say things along the lines of “enjoy every moment because it goes so fast,” “the days are long but the years are short,” “it will go by in the blink of an eye…” I tried to remind myself of this despite being sleeping and sore and trying to slow down all the new-parent worries whirling around in my head. But, it’s true. Trust me, I’m one of those people that warn other new parents now: you’ll be holding that first birthday cake before a toddler in what feels like a week! That’s why the pictures that we have from three sessions with Michel, a Edmonton lifestyle & baby photographer—newborn, 8 months (when she started sitting on her own), and one year—are so precious to us.

I’m a writer – so, naturally, I’ve been taking a lot of notes on my phone and writing long posts that I then and meticulously write into the appropriate pages of her baby book. But, even then, with my intense documentation of her milestones and quirks, I scroll through poorly-lit iPhone photos and I can’t believe how much she’s grown and changed. I am so grateful to have Michel’s beautiful images that document three very different stages from this first year—they preserve our most important memories.

I was a bit hesitant to get in front of a camera in the early weeks—I think I told Michel that I just wanted to do pictures of our daughter, but she encouraged us to consider a newborn family session and I am so glad that she did. Having the photos done in our home meant that we didn’t have to cart our new baby anywhere, that we could relax and get ready slowly in the hours leading up to the session, and that we have images as we were then: at home, in our bedroom, in our living room, cuddling up with our new babe as a new family of three. We are only one year in, and already the newborn pictures take me back to the early weeks when we were in that newborn bubble. I love looking at her little features, her tiny fingernails, the shape of our little bundle in our arms. And Michel so perfectly captured the way I saw my partner as he became a dad for the first time: cue. the. tears.

Our next session was at 8 months. Michel captured our daughter’s personality — and her wide full-face smile as she beamed while showing off her new skill of sitting up all on her own. She loved getting all the attention in the studio and being somewhere new and exciting. And then, four months later, she has changed again SO MUCH – our baby became a teetering-on-her-tiptoes toddler standing between us! The visitors were right, it does go by in a blink. I am so glad to have pictures that I love to remember the best year of our lives.