Jackson’s Cake Smash and 1 year Milestone Photos at Camden Lake Park
Photographing Jackson’s one-year milestone session honestly felt a little sentimental for me. I’ve had the chance to photograph the Taylor-Smith family several times over the years, starting all the way back with big sister Avery’s newborn session. Since then, I’ve photographed Avery’s milestones and cake smash, family sessions with Chad and Jessica, and of course Jackson’s newborn session too. Watching families grow over the years is one of my favorite parts of what I do, and it’s always special getting to see everyone again for another milestone.
We met at Camden Lake Park in Elk Grove for Jackson’s cake smash session, and the evening light could not have been prettier. Jackson wore the cutest little sage green outfit with a button-up top that worked perfectly with the soft greens around the park and all of the natural wood props we used throughout the setups.
We kept the session simple with two milestone setups before moving into the cake smash. For the first setup, Jackson sat on a little white bench surrounded by some of his stuffed animals, and he absolutely loved showing off his white number one. He was all smiles right from the start and laughed constantly at my husband Scott, who was helping me during the session. Avery also jumped in as the sweetest little helper, sitting beside me and helping us keep Jackson smiling and engaged the entire evening.
For the second setup, we used a wooden crate with the letters “ONE” in front while Jackson sat and played with the white number one prop. We eventually placed him inside the crate, which ended up being one of my favorite parts of the session. Jessica had mentioned beforehand that bubbles might be fun, so I brought some along and had her blowing bubbles while we photographed him. Jackson loved watching them float through the air, and those ended up being some of the happiest images from the entire session.
The final setup was Jackson’s cake smash with a wooden pallet backdrop, colorful banners, balloons, stuffed animals, and a blue cake Jessica brought that was designed to look like water. I pulled everything together using a mix of my props along with a few personal touches the family brought for Jackson, including his balloons and stuffed animals. I loved how bright and playful the setup felt with all the color against the warm evening light. While Jackson wasn’t completely sold on actually smashing the cake and eventually decided he was done with the whole thing, we still captured some really sweet moments before the tears started. Honestly, that’s sometimes just how cake smashes go, and it’s all part of documenting this age and stage exactly as it is.
Watching Families Grow
It’s always such an honor when families continue coming back year after year and trust me to document so many important milestones along the way. Seeing Jackson go from his newborn session to his first birthday session already feels hard to believe, and it was so fun getting to spend another evening with the Taylor-Smith family again. Between the smiles, bubbles, stuffed animals, and birthday setup, this session ended up being such a sweet way to celebrate Jackson turning one.
To see other cake smashes see below:
