Capturing Special Moments from Birth to 1-Year-Old: Feeding Time

This is part 3 of our 28 part series Capturing Special Moments. Every other week, Shannon will share photos and commentary from the key moments in your child’s development- from infancy thru early childhood. These are memories every parent will want to treasure for years to come. Follow along and don’t forget to share your special moments on our My Baby Photos Facebook group.

During the first year of your child’s life, you will be astonished by his or her growth. Not only will your baby grow quickly in size, he or she will also quickly develop new and exciting skills. One of these skills will be the ability to start feeding himself or herself. Of course, it isn’t always a pretty site - but that is just one of the reasons why you want to make certain to capture these moments on film!

Getting Messy

There is no doubt that you will have to get plenty of photos of your child getting messy as he attempts to feed himself. While these messes may not seem like a whole lot of fun at the time, they do result in adorable photos that will make you ooh and ahh when your child grows older. Not only that, these are great pictures to break out when his girlfriend comes over the first time!

In all of the photos below, the photographer chose to take a close up approach, making it possible for you to clearly see the true color and texture of the food. In this first photo, for example, you can actually see just how soggy the cookie has become.

In the next photo, you can appreciate the baby’s effort to stay clean by eating with a spoon - but, it doesn’t seem to be quite working for him!

The look of surprise coupled with the mess all over this baby’s face makes it truly eye-catching and adorable. You can even see the tidbits of gooey food that have made it his nose!

Interesting Angles

In addition to taking the messy eating photo, you can also take these photos from a variety of interesting angles. This is where your artistic skills will come into play, as snapping the photo at just the right time and at just the right angle is what will help you achieve a memorable photo. The timing of the photo below, for example, was perfect. As the photographer implies with the title he gave this photo off “Feeding the baby chick,” the little guy is opening his mouth wide just as a baby chick would do when mama bird has brought something tasty to the nest. The perspective, which includes just the tips of the feeder’s fingers, is also quite interesting and helps draw attention to the photo.

The timing and angle of the next photo also creates an adorable final product. Anyone with an infant knows that she spends more time playing with her plate and eating utensils than she does with actually putting food in her mouth! This photo manages to capture this part of feeding time while also playing with color and perspective in an interesting way.

Great Expressions

Sometimes, timing a photo perfectly isn’t about capturing a great angle or action, but more about getting the perfect expression. While the photo below doesn’t necessarily demonstrate photographic genius in terms of lighting, composition or angle, the expression on the baby’s face is truly priceless!

Sleepy Time

Sometimes, precious moments in your child’s development will cross over, such as the case with the photo below. It is not uncommon for infants and toddlers to fall asleep while in the high chair - often with all kinds of goo on their faces and in their hair! Hey, if you can fall asleep on the couch after goring yourself on Thanksgiving, why can’t your little one do the same?

When you catch your little guy or gal falling asleep after getting a full belly, be certain to snap a few photos of this special sleepy time scene.