Rochelle, a friend of mine whose family I have been photographing for quite some time, approached me with an idea while I was actually in the middle of a photoshoot with her family. She told me how she was always impressed with my skills, friendliness, kind nature, and how clean my studio was, and that she needed me to photograph a very dear friend of hers.

Her dear friend Avi, who is almost like a child to Rochelle, was a few months away from turning one! Avi was born with an extra chromosome, accompanied by some extra health challenges, so being exposed to any photographer’s studio she didn’t trust was not the best idea. Rochelle wanted me to capture Avi’s cake smash session. She had also set her heart on having Avi’s first cake smash milestone birthday at his surprise party, and she was going to be the party planner.

Of course, he needed a cake smash session like every other child does to celebrate their first birthday, but naturally everyone wanted to be present to watch this cake smash go down. There was no way we could throw the whole birthday bash in my studio! We sat and thought about how we could make this happen and knew exactly what we would do: I would bring the studio to the surprise party.

So we sat and planned a few more details and logistics, set the date in my calendar, sent out invitations, and both anticipated the surprise unfolding… All my photography gear was packed neatly into my SUV, and all I needed to do was show up at 4:30 pm. Avi was quite the center of attention. The room was filled with family and friends as they all stood around and watched Avi smash that cake!