Eugene, Oregon family photographer: Happy birthday, Goldie!

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Amber, Grant, and Goldie, and in wishing Goldie a happy first birthday!

We did this session to celebrate Goldie turning one. Her mom and dad decided against doing a cake smash (which is what I traditionally do for a kiddo’s first birthday), and instead wanted to try more of a family photography session, which I was delighted to do. What a wonderful way to commemorate a child’s birth! This is a beautiful little family, and the photos turned out great. I hope you enjoy them! 

Rather than meeting at my photography studio in Eugene, Oregon, we did this session at Mount Pisgah, a well-known hiking destination near downtown Eugene, and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and the sunshine is always particularly welcome in this area of Oregon! Mount Pisgah can actually get a bit parched during the summer months, but we were fortunate to catch it while there was still tall green grass and yellow flowers to provide a bright, natural setting for our celebratory baby photography session.

Goldie is an absolutely adorable little girl, with her mom’s fair hair and blue eyes. (Lucky kid!) Even though this was our first photography session together, Goldie didn’t need any time at all to warm up to me. She was happy and smiley from the first photo to the last, and even though we used a few props and played with her blanket to keep things interesting, she really didn’t need any entertaining. A lot of times kids that age need some encouragement to smile at the camera—after all, they haven’t learned to smile on demand yet, and most of them don’t see anything particularly funny about a lady with a strange black box—but Goldie was a great little smiler. She just loved looking at me and my camera! And what a sweet, toothy grin she’s got, too!

It’s always nice to get out of the studio for a bit, and outdoor photography is especially fun. The Pacific Northwest (or Northwet, as we affectionately refer to it) is a beautiful place, and the spring and summer months, when everything is in bloom and the sun decides to pay our corner of the world a visit, makes outdoor photography both easy and a sheer delight. Although I am primarily a baby and child photographer, I’m as susceptible as anyone else to the beauties of nature, and it’s always exciting to use my camera as an exploratory tool—discovering all that’s lovely and unique about where I live, and capturing it on film. Photography sessions like this seem to combine the best of both worlds!

It was so much fun to meet this wonderful family, to explore a local landmark together, and to celebrate one of the best parts of their life: Goldie! These were such sweet people, and I’m so happy I had the opportunity to be their family photographer and baby birthday photographer all at the same time!