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Do these girlies look familiar to you?
Betcha they do. They are among the very first kids I photographed when this LYYP thing was in the larval stage. Back then, big sister had two neat lines of tiny little baby chicklet teeth, and curls that bounced above her shoulders. Little sister had barely a few wisps of hair. The roundness of her head accentuated her big brown eyes.
One of the great things about chronicling the childhoods of the kiddos I photograph is that we ALL know exactly what to expect from our sessions. We totally get each other. I’m happy to be able to skip right over the process of helping them see that my sessions are about having FUN. They already know that. We can get right down to business.
One of the by-products of this approach is that I end up with a LOT of images, and some of them are downright silly. I’m okay with that — in fact, the silly ones tend to be my favorites (and mom’s favorites, too). I mean, can you look at these pictures and NOT understand that these are two fun-loving, sister-loving, SILLY little girls? (Another great example HERE).
When these girls and their parents look at these images in twenty years, which do you think will elicit the biggest smiles? 
Which will bring a tear to mom’s eyes?
Which will be framed on the shelf in one or more sister’s first apartment?
Another great thing about meeting once or twice every year with my repeat clients is that we identify with the pictures in the same way. For me, it’s awesome to sit with the mom, dad or both after their gallery’s posted and “ooooh” and “aaaaah” over the photos together. It’s one of my favorite parts of the LYYP process.
This one, mom and I agreed, will be the cover of their first album.
These gave us both chills, because they somehow gives a glimpse of a future woman. That woman who will be looking at these photos when she’s 30. That happens sometimes.
While I’m talking about chronicling childhoods, let me jump up on my soap box real quick and say that if you do NOT have a picture of your second grade boy or girl proudly showing off a mouth full of tiny empty spaces or snaggly, mismatched teeth, you absolutely should. 
Another great thing about seeing clients on a regular basis is watching their storybook album collections grow. Sometimes, at ordering sessions, I find myself flipping through past volumes (I think this family is up to their 5th or 6th McGuire storybook?) and getting all choked up.
Actually, I’ve got a copy of one of this family’s early storybooks in my sample case, so I can page through that one whenever I want. (You can have a peek at it, too, if you like — it’s toward the end of this post HERE).
And here’s a peek at a couple of the spreads in their latest storybook:
This one highlights their beloved German Shepherd pup.
So, yeah, I really do love chronicling the childhoods of my clients’ kiddos. Their relationships as a family, too. This particular session was mostly about the girlies, but several of the ones in past years have been full family sessions. (What? You’d like to see them? Sure! just click over HERE and you can follow the chain all the way back).
I’m a lucky girl, alright. To love what I do as much as I do, and to have clients whose loyalty and friendship make the experience richer year after year.
Thanks for looking!
~Jaye
NY Kids Photographer
