Eugene, Oregon baby and child photographer: Merida is ONE!

Merida came to the studio with her parents Ashley and Erik for a one-year birthday cake smash. I photographed this little one as a newborn so it was wonderful to have her back for another baby photography session.

Ashley and Erik are big dinosaur fans, and in fact, Merida’s nursery is decorated in a dinosaur theme. I remember they told me about it when they brought Merida in as an infant, and I thought it was such a fun idea—and so unique for a girl! We decided to make dinosaurs the main theme of this milestone photography session. I contacted my baker at Soft Peaks Cakery to see if she could come up with some kind of cake-asaurus, and I love how it turned out!

Cake smashes are a super popular option for baby birthday pictures, so I learned early in my career as a Eugene, Oregon photographer that I needed an amazing cake baker and decorator. I got so lucky in finding Shelly! She’s always so creative and has never failed to decorate a cake perfectly for whatever theme I’m going for. If you’re interested in doing a cake smash for your little one, please get in touch with me! I offer cake smashes as stand-alone mini sessions, or as an add-on to a full baby and child milestone session. You can read more about options and pricing for this type of photo shoot here.

Merida loved her cake and gave me some of the best expressions as she ate it. She was very generous in offering all of us fistfuls of smashed cake and frosting—but we decided to pass. I also found out that when you ask her, “What sound does a dinosaur make?” she responds by doing her best roar. Too cute! I asked her that question several times during the cake smash so I could try to capture some of her dinosaur impressions in our photos.

Merida brought lots of her stuffed dinosaur toys to join us for pictures, and Ashley brought in an awesome dinosaur banner. She also had the cutest one-asaurus outfit for her to wear during the cake smash photography portion of our session.

Before our cake smash, we also did some one-year baby photography without all the sticky stuff. Mom and Dad chose an adventure theme for this part of our session, using my hot air balloon and carousel horse props. Merida was fascinated by the hot air balloon. I got some super cute shots of her looking up into the balloon above her head.

It was wonderful to have Merida and her parents in my Eugene, Oregon photography studio a second time. They are a super sweet family and Merida is such a happy, fun-loving little girl. She was one of the easiest babies I had ever photographed as a newborn, and she turned out to be just as much of a pleasure to work with a year later. Happy birthday to Merida, and best wishes to her and her family!