A Sunset Cake Smash and Family Photos | Rockaway Family Photographer — Family and Newborn Photography Long Beach, NY |Teresa Geraghty Photography

A first birthday is the perfect opportunity to update your family photos. Instead of scheduling a first birthday session in the studio, you can schedule an outdoor photo session and include the whole family. Whenever weather permits, I encourage families to go this route. I always leave a little time at the end of the session for either a cake smash or first birthday themed portraits. This recent family took my advice and scheduled their son’s first birthday session on the beach at sunset. They wanted a few photos of a cake smash and the rest of the session to focus on them interacting as a family.

This session took place on the hottest evening of the Summer, but the weather on the beach was perfect. There was a warm ocean breeze and the scattered clouds in the sky created a gorgeous sunset. Mom dressed her family in a color palette consisting of blues and pinks. This is becoming one of my favorite combinations for beach sessions. It creates such a soft look for the images and is so complimentary to the beautiful hues of the glowing sunset. Mom was dressed in a stunning white eyelet dress that she purchased on Amazon. You can never go wrong with a classic white dress. It is timeless, flattering, and so perfect for Summer images.

We started the session with family photos and I made sure to leave some time at the end of the session so we could head down to the shoreline for the cake smash photos. This little baby stole the show. He is beyond adorable and smiled and laughed for most of the session. Mom was shocked because the poor little man has been suffering from teething over the past few weeks and she anticipated that he would be cranky. She was so relieved to see that he was happy, content and having fun during the session.

Big brother was playful and energetic. I love the images of him in action and with his parents. The images of the two brothers together melt my heart. You can see how much the baby loves his big brother. It was adorable to capture.

When we finally got to the cake smash portion of the session, the light was simply magical. It was golden hued and setting right along the ocean’s edge. This little man happily dove into his cake and enjoyed every second of it. He was a bit messy, so I suggested that mom seat him in the water to rinse him off and also so I could capture some images of him with the reflection of the setting sun in the water.

I love this collection of images, but here are my favorites. If you are interested in a session, contact me.