Addison’s One Year Old Birthday Photo Session at the Botanical Garden

Almost exactly 4 years ago I was the photographer at Ashley and Justin’s wedding; you can see the wedding at this link.  Since then we have loosely stayed in touch, especially over the last year.  Just about exactly 1 year ago, Justin and Ashley had a daughter, who they named Addison.  I did Addison’s newborn photos (which you can see by clicking on this link), and then we had another session in mid-November for some Christmas photos.  So I was very excited to have a chance both to catch up with Ashley and Justin as well as see how Addison had grown.

As anyone who has been a parent knows, babies change very quickly!  And Addison is no exception.  Her initial reaction to seeing me was one of wariness.  Which as I knew is exactly where she should be developmentally; I’m a stranger and should be looked at with suspicion.  I was expecting this, and hoped that as the session went forward that Addison would warm up to me.

Addison had just started walking about a week before our session, and the nice weather and dry grass meant that she was able to either try to walk or resort to creeping without getting wet.  We started out by letting Addison explore the grass and nearby garden.  Of course, she had her own idea of what it meant to “explore”; her favorite activity was trying to chew on grass, leaves, gravel or dirt.  Again exactly what you’d expect from a one year old!

Since this was a celebration of Addison’s first birthday, Justin and Ashley had brought along some birthday balloons.  As we walked through the park we got many greetings of “Happy Birthday!” from other people who were also enjoying the park that day.

We spent about 90 minutes exploring the park and stopping for photos at various locations along the way.  Addison was remarkably well-behaved, and the more time we spent together the more she seemed to decide that I was OK, as you’ll see from her smiles in the photos below.  I had really expected at least a minor break down at some point but Addie hung in there for the entire session.

It was a very enjoyable photo session and I think we got a lot of great photos.  I’ve placed some of them below, I hope that you enjoy them!