Third photo session in Northern Beaches with St Ives family

Family PhotographyNewborn PhotographyBaby photos

Aug 22

Black and white photo of father, mother and toddler daughter on beach — ©Little Manly Photography

Deb, Nathan and 2yr old Neve had fun on their third family photo session with Little Manly Photography. Here’s why they booked again…

What inspired you to book your photo session with Elena? We’ve done three sessions with Elena now – this one was around the time of our daughter Neve’s second birthday. We’ve done a newborn shoot and one on her first birthday, so we’ve captured her developmental stages.

Family playing in dues picking yellow wild flowers — ©Little Manly Photography

How was the experience for you, your daughter and partner? It was lots of fun, we were at Curl Curl beach. We’ve always done beach sessions at different locations. This time as sh’es older, there was a lot more chasing, following her lead rather than carrying her around. We let her do what she wanted to do, and it was captured in a natural way. She’s quite a sensory child, so she loved the sand and water, and loves going to the beach. At the first session, I felt a bit anxious and wondered how it would go, but now I feel chilled and relaxed about it.

Mother and toddler daughter kissing on beach — ©Little Manly Photography

What were your concerns before the shoot? And how did it turn out? No real concerns this time because we’d done it before. The first time, I worried if we were going to be dressed in the right things or look too posed. This time we went with the flow a lot more, no concerns, much more laid back about what we wore and how it went.

Mother piggybacking toddler daughter on beach — ©Little Manly Photography

How did you decide where to shoot and what to wear? We let Elena decide where to shoot – free reign, she let us know the location. What to wear – this time round, it was a bit cold, so we went with what was warm enough for Neve. I had something I had last year in neutral colours. I wanted Neve to wear whatever she was wearing at the moment to capture this stage. I thought less about what we were wearing and matching and looking back, what we wore didn’t matter, we complimented each other, but I wasn’t so worried this time round.

Toddler girl smiling, sitting on beach — ©Little Manly Photographer

Child at different ages with same teddy bear — ©Little Manly Photography

What do you think of when you look at the photos (or one in particular)? I love how they capture her free spirit – they capture her curiosity, her personality and where she’s at right now. That lovely authenticity which is natural for this age but so lovely. Her being in the moment, her joy, and how she looks so happy. On our first photo shoot, we brought along her toy monkey, and it wasn’t planned, but we’ve brought it along to all the sessions now.

Father with toddler daughter with rough sea and cloudy sky behind — ©Little Manly Photography

‘I know every developmental stage is temporary so it’s great to capture that’, Deb

Three similar images of toddler girl sitting on the sand at the beach — ©Little Manly Photography

What are your best memories of the day? We walked up from the sand dunes, there were these little wild flowers in the dunes in the grass, and Elena suggested going up there. Neve loved picking the flowers – the photos aren’t focused on the flowers, but on us doing something nice together. It was also fun playing in the sand, giving piggybacks, having fun together doing the things we usually do.

Mother and father with baby girl, sitting together on sand dune — ©Little Manly Photography

What advice would you give to another family considering getting photos done? I would say, do it! Don’t get caught up in the perfectionism – do it, have fun, let go of anxieties, when you look back later on, it’s so worth it. The things that are important are seeing those developmental stages, not what people are wearing. How we look isn’t what matters.

What do you think you’ll miss most when you look back at these photos in five or ten year’s time? The fact that the pure joy, I know that’s developmentaly appropriate now but in the future she’ll be thinking about what other people think, and may not but such a free spirit, I know every developmental stage is temporary so it’s great to capture that.

We’ve got a digital frame in our lounge room where I’ll add our latest photos. When we’re in a house, I’ll hang them on a family wall and create a collate with different ages.