Baby Jude’s First Birthday Cake Smash Portrait Session | Indianapolis

Meet sweet baby Jude.  He was in the studio recently to celebrate his first birthday with a cake smash photoshoot.  Problem was, he was NOT in the mood for a celebration.  He was also not in the mood to have his pictures taken, or to smash into his first birthday cake, or to sit anywhere that separated him from his dad.  In short, Jude was not having it!  

This is just the way it goes sometimes when you photograph babies.  Parents always assume their baby will be so happy and excited the minute you set that cake down in front of them.  But I would say that at least 50% of the time, they are not.  They don’t know what it is, they don’t like the way the frosting feels on their fingers, they don’t want to separate from mom or dad.  Being a one year old is tricky business!

Anyhoo, despite the fact that Jude was anything but excited about his first birthday photoshoot and his beautiful smash cake, we carried on.  And although his cake smash portraits were not the typical cake smash portraits, they are some of my favorites – and I’ve been shooting cake smash sessions for more than 20 years.

I’m sure Jude’s parents were disappointed when they left the studio.  After all, they had an expectation about how things would go and how baby Jude would react to his birthday cake.  And I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to get the typical smiling, happy baby pictures too.  But when I popped these portraits into my computer and took a look at them, I knew these pictures were just perfect.  The way Jude is just loving on his dad, and his expressions, and even his curiosity with the cake (even though dad’s still in the pictures) are just perfect.  

Apparently his parents thought so too.  They even bought extra pictures from this session, and I got this sweet note from Jude’s moms:”Thank you Leah! Again, we love these so much!”  
I hope you enjoy looking at Jude’s cake smash pictures too.  And remember these the next time your baby or toddler doesn’t react just the way you want him to during his portrait session.  Sometimes the best pictures are the ones we weren’t expecting.

If you would like to see more adorable babies react to their smash cake, click here.