Yummy cake....or was it?

So last Friday I took Alex to a friends studio so we could do a typical first birthday cake smash session. That is where you give a one year old an entire cake and let them go at it while you snap photos.

I did 2 sessions when Brett was around a year old and it was fabulous. He loved the cake and I got some wonderful shots. Now that 2 years has passed and I am a better photographer and have better equipment I was very excited to see what I could get with Alex....

It started out good....he looked at the cake and even put his fingers in it.

but that was the only good photo I got.

Because he immediately started to cry, and i mean CRY. and did not want anything to do with the cake.

but you know I actually like this photo. because its TOTALLY ALEX. He really does fit his role as the baby in our family. And it also goes to show that not every session is going to go perfect. But I still came away with some winners :)

we tried giving him a bottle, bubbles, cheerios, clapping, anything to get him to calm down, nothing.

But he still got pretty messy and I love this hands and feet shot I got, because it was one I wanted to get even if the session had gone perfect.


So that night I tried again thinking that maybe he was tired or hungry or any of the things it could have been....

So after a nap I set up my own setup and had Chris help and well we had the same results. This session lasted no longer then 30 seconds. And it was confirmed the boy does not like cake....

So then it was time for his birthday party the following day. I made him an Eeyore cake. I was nervous thinking he was not going to like cake. Well we found out the secret, he doesn't like frosting! once he got passed the frosting and had some actual cake, he was much better. Although still not digging in.

But he actually ate some of it and smiled too!

Then all of a sudden on Monday night Chris and I were eating cake and Alex wanted a bite. So we gave him a bite. He loved it! WHAT? the kid who above clearly did NOT like cake???

Sooooooo since i had a cake left over from his party, I tried again today.....

FINALLY he sat down and ate the cake like a typical cake session! success!!

I really think my failure was that he had never had anything sweet before whereas Brett had already. Mental note for when I do this with clients :)