Esme's Cake Smash...

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Well that was an experience and a half!
 
When Nikki asked me three weeks ago if I would photograph Esme’s cake smash for her first birthday my first thought was yes, of course.  My second thought was how the hell do I do that?!
 
Fast forward two weeks and I have OD’d on You Tube videos of cake smashes, spent a small fortune on a photography stand, backdrops, soft boxes, shower curtains (to put under the backdrop to catch the mess) balloons, banners, bunting, frilly pants (for Esme…just to clarify) a crown, and a tin bath!
 
The only area within the house with enough space and light to set all this up was in the garden room, which is a challenge as it’s south facing with large windows.  I was hoping for a dull day as bright sunshine streaming in would have been a disaster.  Thankfully the sun was behind clouds for most of the shoot but near the end it appeared, casting lots of shadows and creating high contrasts.  Other than waiting till it went back behind a cloud before taking the next shot, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
 
David worked hard preparing the room, moving the dining room table and the sofas to one end, setting up the stand and the lights for me and generally being a perfect photographer’s assistant.  
 
I’ve spent ages over the last couple of days trying to decide which lens to use as I didn’t want to have the faff of keeping changing lenses.  My perfect choice would have been Canon’s 24-70mm lens, but sadly it is still on my wish list, so I settled for the 24-105 on my Canon 6D and the 60mm Ef-s macro lens on my Canon 60D, meaning I could quickly swap cameras when I wanted to capture some closer details.  I was nervous as the 24-105mm is probably my least favourite lens as I never seem to get great results with it (much prefer prime lenses) but to be fair, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with it this time.  Maybe I’ve been too harsh about it and could  become fond of it yet.  A bad workman and all that ;-))
 
Nikki and Esme and Nikki’s mum Avis arrived in time for lunch.  Watching Esme tuck into some cheese, ham, peppers, and cucumber I thought there won’t be much space left for cake.  I was wrong.
 
Lunch over, Nikki got Esme changed into the little frilly pants and I got very nervous!  It was now or never!
 
Now, remember I said I OD’d on You Tube videos of cake smashes?  Well every single child in each of those videos sat beautifully still, a bit bemused by the cake, reaching out with hesitant fingers to gently touch the icing whilst smiling serenely into the camera.  The Photographers had to encourage their angelic little subjects to touch the cakes, sometimes even getting a spoon to encourage them to have a taste.  Children are intimidated by cakes it would seem.  They were also keen to point out that a cake smash isn’t a waste of food as the child rarely demolishes the cake and the parents get to take the left overs home afterwards to enjoy with coffee and share with family.
 
Hahahahahahahahahahah-BREATHE-hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
 
That was not my experience (see extras!)
 
I can only assume these You Tube children were not yet independently mobile.  Esme has been walking since she was 10 months old and is fast on her feet (and on her hands and knees!)  She was all over the place!  Her mum and gran chasing her and bringing her back to the set. 
 
We finally got her sitting down and the session began.  What can I say?  Challenging! Fun!  Exhausting!  
 
The challenge was amplified by mum sitting to my right and gran to my left, both shouting Esme’s name and mum trying to take photos on her mobile!   
 
I got a few shots without the cake then the cake was introduced.  She looked at it, looked at us, then raised her hand over it, still looking at us, I assume waiting for a don’t touch  command.  When that didn’t come, she got stuck in!  I hope Andrew (dad) wasn’t hoping for some left over cake to have with coffee when he got home from work.  She scoffed the lot!  
 
My friend Catherine let me borrow her little bath (my tin version was a bit rough) and Esme thought it was fantastic.  She also loved my Ring for Prossecco bell and looked hilarious sitting in the little tub in warm bubby water, ringing the bell looking for all the world as though she was expecting her own personal Jeeves to appear with a glass of the bubbly stuff.

At last the cake smash was over!
 
Once dried and dressed (during which my photography assistant made a grand job of clearing up) I got some shots of Esme with her mum and her gran too.  Esme was getting tired by that point and the sun was back out so they’re not brilliant from a technical point of view, but I think Nikki and her mum will like them.  Not posted any photos with gran in them as I forgot to ask her permission to include them here.
 
Once they had left I had a very strong gin coffee and immediately started editing the shots.  I groaned when I realised I had taken over 800 photos!  
 
I am now way behind on Blip again but the photos are all edited (well the ones that avoided being deleted) so I can get them on a USB stick and give them to Nikki at Esme’s birthday party on Sunday.  She can do what she likes with them thereafter.
 
So, a fun day (that little girl is joy personified and gives me hope for the future) and a massive learning curve for me.  
 
I need to invest in some better quality backdrops though.  This one was just a cheapy as I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on one only to have it ruined by cake.  Wouldn’t mind some advice on what to buy and where to buy :-))