A few weeks ago, I shared a little summary of our recent family photo session. Basically, it was a total disaster. Harper decided she wasn’t having it and had meltdowns and tantrums until we left. #toddlerlife, for real.
Our photographer, Crystal, from Crystal Lynn Photography (I found her via Marissa at The Simple Swan!) assured us that she got some good shots despite the limited time and non-screaming/crying facial expressions.
I was plesantly surprised by the photos and I’m excited to share them with you! Though I wish there were more that captured Harper’s true personality (the sweet, happy, mischevious and funny girl we know)— they sure did capture how she felt at the time they were being taken and I think we will look back on them and have a giggle— and they’ll definitely make it into a wedding slideshow.
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
These photos are precious! I love the one of you kissing Harper's head. So sweet!
thank you! 🙂
How precious! The grump pics are just fantastic! I mean, totally wedding-slideshow-worthy! And on tippy-toes – I die. Too cute!
xx Viv at JoieDeViv
haha thank you 🙂 she seriously looks like grumpy cat could be her spirit animal
They are adorable – grump face & all!!!
thank you! maybe you can give me some tips on how you get Waverly to be so happy in all of your pics 🙂
They are really cute!
thanks Tara! 🙂
Photographing little kids is always such a challenge! I met up with friends this past weekend to take photographs of their younger son's 1 year "smash the cake session" and it was definitely a challenge to keep him and his 3 year old brother happy. There were a few meltdowns, but thankfully I had a Star Wars toy with me that was great at keeping them happy and even better – getting them to look at the camera!
https://jax-and-jewels.blogspot.com
our photographer had a coold squeaky toy on her camera but that only amused harper for like 2.5 seconds!
I love the pictures but hate the outfit choices. Your lace dress is beautiful but then your husband is in jeans. Harper's outfit conflicts so bad with his plaid shirt. Next time you should dress down and take Harper out of a striped shirt if he has plaid on again.
Thanks for your opinion. I liked the mix of textures and prints while staying in the same color family 🙂
The photos are adorable. I had to laugh at a few of her expressions, but they really are priceless. It's such a wonderful time of life when they are that age even when things don't go quite as planned. Just precious!!!
seriously! I am happy with how they turned out but maybe next time we will have to plan to go somewhere she is comfortable 🙂
that picture of grumpy harper is the cutest thing ever!! these are adorable!!!
Wow people can be so rude! I think the pictures are beautiful, and your family is so loving. I love your dress! The outfits are great because they aren't matchy matchy or too cutesy. I know you'll always treasure these 🙂
Thanks Noelle 🙂 I do treasure these pictures a lot!
You definitely managed to get some keepers despite the meltdown! I love, love, love your dress and that photo of her on her tip toes peeking in the window is adorable:)
Oh my goodness, I can't get over her little expressions. They are so adorable and show off some serious personality.
Haha, she was serious, that's for sure! 🙂
The photos are still great and you all look fantastic. Love the blue colour scheme you were going for. The best picture is when Harper was on her daddies shoulders and you were trying to play peek-a-boo with her. She wasn't having any of it!
Thank you Melissa! Yes, Harper made it VERY clear that she was not going to cooperate. We only shot for an hour (maybe less) because we eventually gave up and just hoped some of our shots would turn out 🙂
These photos a great- they show the exact season of your life. And one day you will look and laugh because the day was a disaster. And these photos show exactly what you want them to- love!
Absolutely! I once heard a sermon about "seasons" in life, and I always think of that term now when it comes to life's ups and downs and everything in between 🙂 Even though they're not perfect photos, they are a perfect reflection of our family that crazy morning, haha!
Those are just the sweetest pictures! I love the teepee as your back drop, what a cute idea.
Thank you! We just showed up in the field and our photographer had props and everything. It was great 🙂
Aw love them! I think they turned out really good. Even though she wasn't smiling in some of them, she still looks so adorable 🙂 The one advice I kept telling m husband when we took our photos last year was KEEP SMILING no matter what because photographers have such a good eye for capturing those moments and u don't wanna be "that person" who ruined the shot. haha
Linh
https://abeautifulrawr.com
That's what I told Kevin as well 🙂 I think sometimes when your child is trying to twist out of your arms and you're tyring to get them to smile and look up, it can just become self-defeating/ We just tried to "go with it" after we realized things were going downhill fast haha. We had originally booked more time but cut it short. At least WE were smiling, hehe 🙂
I love the photos, they are absolutely precious! And your outfit choices are perfect. I wish you would delete the comments from these sick people who get satisfaction for making fun of a toddler! That is really messed up. Harper is the cutest!!! I hope you don't take those negative comments to heart for one second. I would be heartbroken if someone talked about my son that way 🙁
Gorgeous! Our 1 year photoshoot with my daughter involved her glaring at the photographer the whole time. It's not like they understand smiling on command yet, so you go with it, which you guys did.
I'm sorry anyone is negative to your daughter. They're toddlers, they eat, grow, run, and it all works out. She's beautiful and you're doing a great job.
Thank you! Nice to hear I wasn't the only one with this experience, haha 🙂
I've never had a photo shoot, so I'm curious; since you guys cut it short and Harper was not in the mood, do you get another quick session?
(I'm surprised to see all the tilted pictures… Not a fan of that technique, I guess :p)
Harper will for sure have a laugh when she understands what went down on this day, and now you guys have quite the story to share – mine is from our wedding pictures, prior to the ceremony. Complete bummer on the worse possible day :p
My favorite one is where you are playing airplane with her 🙂 I also love the instagram where she is coloring, super concentrated (pink waffle shirt from target. Every time I pass their kids section I know I will buy all my kids' clothes from them. Not on instagram so I can't comment there). Your dress is lovely too 🙂
Hi Beatrix! Thanks for your comment. We booked more time but ended up cutting it short, so our photographer just charged us for a shorter session, which was nice. I don't think we will book another one until we do Christmas photos— and we may just take some on the beach when we are on vacation and use those.
In terms of technique, I don't mind it at all. It's nice to have a mix, I think 🙂
I remember your upcoming trip. I'm sure you will get great pictures taken there. You will have a beautiful backdrop 🙂
Grr, Bearix= Beatrix 😛 lol
I think Beatrix's comment about the tilted photos is because in the photography world, tilted photos are actually not considered to be appealing or good work. That's not to say that a tilted photo here and there never looks good, but so many in one shoot is surprising to see. All that to say, that's a reflection of the work of the photographer you chose and not you since you are just IN the pictures. If you like them, that's obviously all that counts!
Thank you, I didn't know about the titled thing. We do like our photos considering the circumstances I'm glad we got some nice shots 🙂 Have a great day!
Grrr, I had a comment done and ready but it was lost as I logged on to google 🙁
I thought it would post once it was approved but I just noticed I was able to post right away on a more recent post…
Anyway, you are absolutely right Anon 5:21
I like one or two tilted picture, but was very surprised that a professional photographer would choose so many in that way. I understand the shoot didn't go as smoothly as planned so that was probably a factor. (it was also surprising to me because my husband never uses Photoshop on his pictures other than a plug-in to straighten the lines that he didn't keep straight in the picture :p he is quite the photo-enthusiast and spends a lot of time and resources on this hobby. He is also quite the critic of my pictures and I guess some of that has rubbed on :p I am in no way a semi-professional, but after listening to so many videos and looking through some of his books I do think I have learned a thing or two 😉 )
I still like the pictures. The photos capture a lovely family and the story of that day 🙂
I love the photos, you all look great and Harper is precious! I have a 16 month old boy, Henry, and it's SO hard to get him to smile in photos lately. It used to be so easy to make him laugh/smile but he must be going through a phase right now, or maybe it's just this age. Recently, we went to a pumpkin patch and I was hoping to capture some really cute photos but he looked so grumpy in all of them (even though he seemed to be having fun).