the Millers: preserving memories of a little girl and her family in the Big Apple, on the verge of h

'There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child: there are seven million.' ~ Walt Streightiff

When I met the Millers for the first time for our pre-session consultation, the first thing that struck me was their little girl's amazing eyes, so huge and beautiful and draped in an amazing set of long eyelashes, and oh so full of wonder and curiosity.

She measured me up just as a great child should, and unlike adults, who usually look away right away, she kept her piercing gaze on me the whole

time I chatted up mom and dad on the best place to have our session, the most beautiful and dramatic time of day to shoot to get breathtaking images, what color she would look best being photographed in (would it be green? yellow? or the beautiful baby pink she ended up in?), would she like bubbles or baloons or have a special lovey with her....

Though I could tell she was warming up to me and we would have a good session together, it was not because she was too free with her smiles with me; rather it was because her intensity and her serious inquisitiveness let me know that there were many beautiful facets to her personality that I would get to capture. I love this serious intensity in little children as much as I love their unadulterated, unforced smiles, so I was excited for a beautiful session together! And, as you will see from our Brooklyn Bridge Park sunset session - I mostly captured immense smiles to match her immensely beautiful eyes.

First she explored, then off she went: tiny but bold daring steps, all smiles towards mommy

Here is the session and all that went into it, through my client's eyes:

Have you worked with a professional photographer in the past, and how was working with Andreea B. Ballen Photography similar/different? We worked with a professional photographer for a maternity/newborn shoot package. It was a lovely experience but it was clear her specialty was with “little ones” and less so with adults.

Working with Andreea was great because she was able to capture all three of us (me, my husband, and my one-year-old daughter) in our element.

What influenced you to invest in a professional photographer for your event this time? What would you say to someone asking your opinion, who was on the fence about investing in professional pictures? We wanted to capture our daughter at this precious age (1 years old) and also our time in Brooklyn. We know eventually we’ll be leaving New York for more space, and we wanted to really chronicle this particular time and place in our lives. After all, what’s better than the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop to our daughter toddling about for the first time?

How did you go about finding the right photographer for you? What made you choose Andreea B. Ballen Photography? We are part of a yahoo parent group (BoCoCa Parents) and were fortunate enough to hear about Andreea from that forum. I’m a big fan of crowd-sourced recommendations. When in doubt, trust word-of-mouth from other mamas in the hood.

Tell us a little bit about getting ready for your session Prepping for any event with a 1-year-old is always a bit unpredictable and this was no exception. I had planned on having Adelaide hold a bunch of light pink balloons. However, I forgot that we’d need helium. The morning of the shoot I’m in the kitchen googling ‘DYI’ options. Apparently you can mix baking soda and vinegar together in a soda bottle to inflate balloons. Long story short, the experiment failed and I had fizz all over everything. I had to scrap the balloon idea, but fortunately Andreea came equipped with adorable fall props that worked perfectly instead.

What were your expectations going into the session? What were you hoping the session to be like? What was your vision for the images? I’m a huge fan of natural light photography. Anything with an ethereal hazy glow makes me happy. Andreea captured that perfectly. She worked with the setting sun to get the most glorious lighting.

What was your experience like with Andreea B. Ballen Photography? Andreea made us all feel so comfortable and I loved seeing her interact with my daughter. She is very warm and great with kids. I was also really impressed with how fast she turned around the images. I was hoping to have some “sneak peek” images in time for my daughter’s 1st birthday butshe got us all of the images in time. It was so fun to be able to show our guests.

I would absolutely recommend Andreea to photograph any life milestone—engagement, wedding, birth of a child, birthday. She captures all of the natural, little moments of love—without anything feeling forced or posed. She completely captured all of the wonderful little facial expressions my daughter is known for, and that I live for. I loved showing my family members and hearing them say “That’s soooo Adelaide.”

My dad said that one shot actually brought him to tears. Now that is a good photographer. What does having these images mean to you/your family/your friends? How do you think you will feel looking at your images every day to 5/10/20 years from now? I think it’s really important to have printed images so that kids can look back and know “their story.” In this day and age, so many pictures stay in the cloud and you don’t take the time to revisit them. The wonderful thing about having professionally shot images is that they feel more precious and you take the time to get prints made—books, calendars, framed shots, etc. You get the opportunity to gaze on them (and cherish them) regularly.

Have you scheduled your child or family session? Use the Contact page to find out more about booking your own session with me.

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