Welcome to the third installment of Baby's Growth Stages Captured in Photography by Shannon Kietzman from My Baby Photos.

As your precious little bundle of joy grows older, you will notice a personality begin to emerge. In fact, during the first twelve months of your child's life, he or she will grow and change more rapidly than at any other age. Therefore, the key to taking photos of infants that are one year old or less is to capture their personalities, their curiosity and the natural wonder they express during the first months of life.

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Capturing Expressions

When your infant was still a newborn, he or she didn't show too many expressions. Mostly, your newborn simply cried when needing your attention, rested quietly in your arms or slept in his or her crib. Now that your baby has grown beyond these first few weeks, however, those expressions are far more varied and reflective of his or her personality and emotions. Therefore, one of your goals should be to capture these expressions so they can live on forever in your scrapbook. Close-up photos of your baby's face can be quite captivating, such as the one of the happy baby shown below.

Notice the attention to detail and the clarity of the photo, particularly how well the photographer captured the infant's eyes and the sweet look of innocence. Close-ups don't have to be of happy babies in order to be memorable and precious, however, as this black and white photo shows.

This photo masterfully captures the glistening tears and the boo-boo lip that makes even a crying baby immeasurably adorable.

Getting Moving

Of course, one of the greatest milestones to occur during the first year of life is the infant's ability to become mobile and to lift his or her head. Therefore, you should be certain to snap a few photos that show off these accomplishments. The photo below offers excellent composition and clarity while capturing a common infant moment: discovering the joys of sucking on your own hands!

Feeling Curious

The first year of your child's life is filled with curiosity and wonder, which means you should have plenty of opportunities to capture these moments on film. The photo below does an excellent job of capturing this sweet innocence by placing the curious infant in front of a toy robot. Their similarity in size coupled by the way they seemingly stare at one another adds to the innocence, while the colorful toy balls spread in front help create the childlike atmosphere.

Enjoying Every Day Moments

Even the most seemingly mundane moments can create magical photos. In the photo below, for example, the mother is simply taking a bath with her child. Yet, the expressions on their faces and the clarify of the photo, including the crispness of the water as it flows from the showerhead and beads on the mother's skin, helps to create a timeless photo.

The first year of your child's life is one that is filled with wonder and change. Be sure to take photos that help capture these precious moments so you can one day look back upon them and embrace that innocence yet again.

Shannon Kietzman is a successful author and blogger over at My Baby Photos, a website dedicated to Kids and Kids photography.

I would like to thank Luis Hoyos, Lawrence Whittemore, Jessica Bender, Martin Loetzsch and Nico for making their image available under a Creative Commons license. This article would not have been the same without them. 

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