A Sweet ‘Half Way to One’ Lemon-Themed Milestone Session 🍋
Milestone sessions are always special, but the 6-month mark—“halfway to one”—is one of my favorites to capture. This one was even more meaningful because I had the honor of photographing mom’s maternity session back in August of last year, so seeing her baby girl now at this stage was truly a full circle moment.
So for this shoot, we went with a bright lemon theme that felt fresh, soft, and full of joy.
Okay, so pause. I said coming into this blog I would be completely honest and transparent through my photography experiences, so you guys can get a side of me most don’t see (and so y’all know how much patience comes with being a Photographer), so heres the truth!
Before this session I planned to completely design the set (as i’ve done before) but we all know sometimes things dont go as planned. While gathering things to build this set it was literally one thing after another. To begin, I ordered balloons to create the garland myself.. the delivery got delayed. not once, but twice😭. Which caused me to have to reschedule the shoot, because I was so determined to freestyle this shoot and come up with something so unique and beautiful! Then BOOM the day before the rescheduled shoot I was trying to send a document to a print shop that had all the clip art to decorate the set with the theme the client wanted, but for some reason it kept saying the file wasn’t the correct format. Ya’ll I formatted this shit 50 different ways for HOURS and it still wouldn’t work, then I finally settled with a diff format that I wasn’t completed satisfied with. whatevs. So I sent it. Just for it get delayed the day of the shoot. I was NOT about to reschedule pretty girl again, so I said fuck it we gotta brainstorm. DIGITAL BACKDROP! So moving forward I had to find a digital backdrop to match the theme which was very hard because the original set was supposed to be both pink and yellow. The only backdrops I could find were very chatgpt and not realistic and only yellow and beige & way too bright. I finally found one that was like a lemonade stand with wooden crates, etc., so I placed her in that backdrop and edited but it still wasn’t as realistic as I thought it’d be. I was sick. God came through though because riiiiiiiiight before I’m ready to deliver the finals to Mom I found the perfect light, and airy backdrop to keep everything cohesive and playful like the set I planned to design. So I had to again place her in another digital backdrop! But i’m happy I did because it turned out perfectttttttt. I wanted it to feel playful but still polished, with every detail drawing attention back to baby girl.
Her outfit tied everything together perfectly. The “Half Way to One” onesie, soft pink bows, and ruffle details added just the right touch of sweetness without overpowering the set.
We started with tummy-time shots and moved into seated poses as she got more comfortable. She was still like not feeling the flash. But towards the end she finally warmed up, dad started making noises and saying her name and boom the smiles came out!! She turned up y’all. Once the smiles came out, it was nothing but magic. I always let babies lead the session—that’s how you capture those real, genuine moments.
Mom + Dad turned it into a cake smash which I didn’t expect but was so excited to see! It added a nice subtle celebratory touch. It brought in a little texture and gave us the cutest curious expressions without turning it into a full on cake smash.
Sessions like this are such a reminder of how fast these moments go by. The little expressions, the personality starting to shine—it all deserves to be captured.
If you’ve been thinking about booking a milestone session, this is your sign 💛. Client booked this under the Essentials Package which came with two edits. I added the digital backdrop complimentary because of all the drama that was caused lol. She purchased a few extra edits, and we got a masterpiece. She also did a Google review from her Maternity Essentials Experience which also gave her 5% off this session anddddd of course she added a punch to her loyalty card🥳.
All in all— we got some dope shots, and everyone left with smiles.. the exact reason I do what I do! View full size final edits on our instagram page @crystalclear.photos.