Babies are gonna do what babies wanna do.
That’s one major thing I’ve learned as I’ve done more & more photo shoots involving babies + littles – it’s alllllll up to them! Case in point: Tova’s cake smash.
I had been photographing Tova every month for the first year of her life, as her mom’s a close friend of mine, and we had been planning for quite some time to do a cake smash for her first birthday. This involved lots of Pinteresting, Etsy shopping, baking (on Dina’s part!), and coordinating! We rented out studio time, and there was soooooo much leading up to this moment.
And of course, it ended with no cake being smashed and a very sad one year old.
This whole experience definitely taught me to keep my expectations in check when working with babes, and to focus on capturing the true nature of each shoot – no matter if it goes to plan or not! 😉
Tova’s Cake SMash
Let’s start off with one my favorite photos from the day – a reluctant little one quickly crawls away from the set-up…
Guys, Dina should sell her cakes, right? I couldn’t believe it was homemade!
And let the meltdown begin…
Let’s try some bargaining?
So close! So cute! So unsure about it all!
This one is probably one of my favorites from the day. She didn’t want cake, just wanted mama.
A moment of calm amidst the chaos – it didn’t last long.
And we’re all smiles again, because the scary cake is gone and we get to go home!
I’m hoping these photos are going to be looked back on fondly by this sweet family after the icing wounds have healed, haha. Regardless, this was so much fun to plan & put together, and I love getting to do things like this with friends!
Oh, babies.