My youngest, Elsa, was born during a thunderstorm in the summer of 2011. It was a Friday night. The power went out about 6:15 (which was 1 second BEFORE the women next door gave birth - Never thought I'd be glad to still have a couple hours to go yet!!!) The generators kicked in after 10 seconds and Elsa was born later that night. For the next 52 Fridays I set Elsa in this wicker basket for a little mini session to show her growth. I'm sharing this series as part of Kelly's Show Us Your Life Friday posts. Click here to see lots of other photo ideas!
The top photo in this collage was taken at 1 week and the bottom one was taken at 52 weeks. As you'll see in the later collages she quickly spilled out over the basket but for some reason she wanted to curl up for this particular photo. As soon as she did I knew that it would be perfect opposite her 1 week photo in her baby book for the Letter W. (Her baby book is an A-Z book called Alphabitty Moments that is a style of book I make for my other children as well. You can read more about them by clicking on the Alphabitty Moment label on my side bar.)
Around 15 weeks I started putting a hat on her for one of the shots. I had a lot of fun finding hats at garage sales, making some (The Cat in the Hat one is felt for Dr. Seuss' birthday.)
If the weather was nice enough I would change up the angle of my shots and get more of the close up/detail shots.
This came in handy when I was making her book and needed clutter free background shots for the bigger pictures on the left.
This is a fun series to do, but not exactly portrait material so I have incorporated a white chair into each of her monthly photoshoots of her second month. There is something about having a constant in the photo with a little girl who is changing so much that I really like. Besides, the photographer in me likes things to be coordinating. I have already begun plugging some of her 2nd year photos into a book series I call, "You are Loved." inspired by one of my Pinterest pins with numbers and the word "you".
So there you have it....many of the photo ideas that I use...some are in print and others are still in draft form on my computer, but I am determined to make headway this year so my kids have BOOKS to look at and not just slideshows on the computer. :)
Do you do progressive photoshoots with your kids? I'd love to hear about them!
If the weather was nice enough I would change up the angle of my shots and get more of the close up/detail shots.
This came in handy when I was making her book and needed clutter free background shots for the bigger pictures on the left.
In case anyone is wondering which bookmaking software I use, it is the free Booksmart program from Blurb.com. I use them for all my book projects, both personal and professional. Feel free to contact me if you would like YOUR family's photos turned into an album or for some more inspiration check out this post from a recent blog book project.
Here are a couple of other progressive style photo series ideas for you as well:
I take a photo of Elsa in front of the same tree in ever season - Here is the post with that photo.
I also have continued beyond her 1st year with this monthly series of photos taken with a desk calendar:
So there you have it....many of the photo ideas that I use...some are in print and others are still in draft form on my computer, but I am determined to make headway this year so my kids have BOOKS to look at and not just slideshows on the computer. :)
Do you do progressive photoshoots with your kids? I'd love to hear about them!
This is such a brilliant idea! I take pictures of my daughter every month to write a monthly letter to her but I've never thought of doing a continuing series like this. I wish I'd read about this BEFORE my daughter (also summer 2011 (June)) was born.
ReplyDeleteMy friend takes pictures of her daughter each month in a giant flower pot!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun post to go back and remember Elsa...I forgot how many hats she had!
Visiting from Kelly's GREAT IDEA!!!! I will try this:)
ReplyDelete