This childhood documentary project was so much fun. I have worked with these clients several times in the past, creating gorgeous newborn portraits of both Alice and her big brother, Adam. Their mom reached out to me right before Alice’s second birthday because they were about to move into a beautiful new apartment on the Upper West Side. She had been working with an interior designer to style their new home and wanted new portraits of the children to decorate with. 

Mom was so excited about the new apartment and really wanted our session to focus on how sweet this stage of life was. Adam was growing and Alice was turning two; she wanted to document this time and keep these precious memories in view. She said that the kids’ new bedroom had large, open walls that would be perfect for large portraits, and the new living room would be perfect for a gallery wall. Mom was also very excited about the client wardrobe. I helped her select the children’s outfits during our pre-session consultation. This made things so much easier for this mom, who has a full-time career while also being a very active and involved parent. 

We discussed doing four sessions over the course of a full year: one in the summer (June), one in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the spring. It was so fun to imagine how I would document the children beautifully in each season. The summer and winter sessions would be just for the kids, and the fall and spring sessions would include the entire family. 

I created a variety of wall art options once mom was able to go into the new Manhattan apartment and send me a photo of the walls. We decided that two black-and-white photos between the windows in the children’s bedroom would be gorgeous, along with a quad in color in the living room. We wanted the quad to contain a gorgeous sibling photo from each of the sessions, so I knew exactly what I was aiming to create prior to the sessions. With that said, it is important to remain flexible and have as much fun as possible when working with such young children. We kept the expectations realistic and had a blast each time.

Can you guess which sibling portrait we selected for the quad we’re building in the living room?