It’s very tempting to wait until your baby’s first birthday, but that really is a whole different milestone. Your little one will often sit for longer periods at 9 months than they will at 12 months. This will give more opportunities for photos. I am an expert at chasing a little crawler with my camera, but the older they get, the faster they can crawl. 9 months is a wonderful stage for cheeky smiles, big eyes, and cuddles with mum and dad. They still have chubby hands and chunky, squishy, baby thighs. I adore documenting this stage and it’s such a pity to miss it. If you have older children, it’s magical to see the interaction between siblings. 

There’s so much scope for a wide variety of pictures at this age. Your baby will usually still be little enough to lie on their backs and play with their toes but also advanced enough to sit up and play with a toy or interact with their older sibling. If you think about what kind of photos you’d like of your baby at this age think about what they actually do day to day. That’s the memories that you should be hoping to get from your baby’s photoshoot. At Mabel & Møøse there are specific images that we try to achieve. It’s far better to have a whole gallery of your baby doing different things rather than 10 photos of them sitting in the same spot, in the same outfit with only slightly different expressions. And not all the photos need to have your baby looking at the camera or even smiling. That photo of them inquisitively playing with a wooden toy could evoke so many memories for you when they are a teenager get who barely leaves their bedroom. For a nine-month-old photoshoot we would be aiming to encourage your little one to sit and smile, crawl, play with a selection of traditional toys, stand with help from mum or dad, lie on their back, and do something exceedingly cute with their toes, play peek-a-boo for those huge grins, photos with mum, cuddles with dad, very natural family photos, and so many more fun moments. Do you see where I am going with this? Whether you book your baby’s session with Mabel & Møøse or another studio, make sure that you get all those key moments captured. In addition to these photos, all those magical little details shouldn’t be forgotten about. When I say forgotten about, I don’t just mean in the photoshoot. When you’re waving your baby off to summer camp or dancing at their wedding, you won’t remember what their pudgy baby toes looked like, or how their hair grew in, when they were really tiny. 

Some babies take a dislike to being changed, and so for that reason often the whole photoshoot is done with your baby sporting the same white baby onesie that they arrived at the studio wearing. Keeping your baby happy and contented is far more important than photographing them in a selection of cute outfits. My photography sessions are so relaxed and baby-centered that usually your little one is contented and you’ll be able to choose from a range of adorable little outfits for them to wear and this will give even more variety to their final pictures. There’s a carefully curated selection of the cutest natural knits, rompers, dresses and baby bloomers. They are all in white or very neutral shades. This fits with the signature Scandi style of Mabel & Møøse and all of the baby outfits will enhance your beautiful baby. 

Parents being in the photos is a vital part of any 9-month-old baby photoshoot. 

It’s very important, that you as a parents, are also present in the pictures. Flip forward 30 years and think how you could explain to your child that you went along to a photoshoot when they were little but didn’t have even one photograph with you and your baby. That’s the one image that will mean the most to them. Telling them that your hair wasn’t sitting right that day or you were still trying to shift a little pregnancy weight or that one parent had a work meeting that just couldn’t wait, isn’t going to mean anything to them. They just want to see you cuddling them, playing with them and loving them. 

Both parents have a role to play in a really successful photoshoot. On the day it’s a 4 person team. Myself as your photographer, you as parents, and your baby. While I am capturing your little one’s adorable expressions one of you will be very close by your baby making them feel secure and often at this stage watching that they don’t get over excited and topple over. The other parent will usually be being silly and will be making their baby laugh. It’s basically just one big play date where you get to have fun and hang out with your baby while I take some gorgeous photos. I think somewhere on this website it says that photoshoots are relaxing. That’s a slight exaggeration. At this 9-month stage we will all be exhausted, but very happy. And every time you look at your baby’s photos you will remember what great time you had. That’s a great feeling to be able to get just by looking at a photograph.