Meet Hattie… not only is she a complete doll with a wild side, she is the VP in charge of product testing at her mom’s store in Reno, Nevada. Rockabye is the coolest baby retail shop in Reno featuring eco-friendly and hard to find quality boutique brand infant and toddler necessities. I had the pleasure of photographing Hattie at Bartley Ranch park in Reno one evening for a toddler photo session. She was so much fun to play with and even Taylor made friends with her, but only for a while before Hattie decided this was her limelight. She was such a ham and was really patient with having her picture taken. With children of all ages, but especially toddlers between the ages of about 13 months to 2 years, they tend to have a short attention span and are independent. The best way to photograph a child this age is to use a longer lens with some sort of zoom feature. For this shoot I used a 70-200mm telephoto so that Hattie could take the lead and I followed her around and photographed her candidly. The most rewarding part of children’s photography is capturing their personality, which means allowing them the freedom to play and be comfortable with themselves in front of the camera. Hattie is a natural!

For more information on children’s photography how to’s please consider registering for my course offering through the WDCE Truckee Meadows Community College on October 18th. Click the above link to register now! This class will be an opportunity for parents to learn first hand better techniques for photographing infants, toddlers, and children of all ages.