Amy Shertzer Photography | Los Angeles Photographer

Yesterday, my first-born child turned 4.  And while I have taken thousands of pictures of him since birth, I don’t often subject him to a formal photo shoot.  For one, he’s tired of the camera always being out.  For two, he knows all my tricks!  A few weeks ago he humored me for some pictures, but I was really wanting to get his full attention for a “4th birthday” photo shoot.  I’ve learned that if I push him too much or try to get those “perfect shots” too often, I just end up with nothing.  But if I’m going to go for it, right around his birthday is the perfect time.  In the first five years, I highly recommend getting professional portraits of your child at least once year.  The time goes so fast and they change so fast.  Birthdays are a fabulous time to document your little ones.  I treasure the images I got now, and I know they’ll just grow richer and even more valuable as the years pass!

So, one day last week, while little brother was peacefully napping, I met up with my son in his room and we spent about half an hour playing, talking, and having fun while I snapped away.

Did I mention silly?  We had plenty of that, too!

I’ll go ahead and admit right now that this way more than a sneak peek.  I typically only share a few images from each session on my blog, but since this just happens to be one of my absolute favorite people in the world (tied evenly with his little brother!) I’m sharing almost all of my favorites.  Which gives you a bit of an idea what you’ll get from a typical session with me.

All of those images were taken in front of the dresser in his room.  Who says you have to be limited when doing an indoor on-location photo shoot?  The beauty of taking photos in his space is that he was totally comfortable.  And I got to capture him in his element doing one of his favorite things–playing with his race cars.  Definitely something I’ll want to look back and remember about his preschooler days!

I convinced him to head to our family room for a few more photos before calling it a wrap.  After a few more minutes, he looked up at me and asked, “can I have my treat now?”  He definitely knows all of my tricks!

I’ll finish up by wishing a great big Happy Birthday to my favorite 4-year-old boy!  And I’ll add that if you have a young one with a birthday coming up, I’d love to capture their personality so you can always remember these days that pass way too quickly!