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Our Weekly Baby Photo Project Continues

Clara’s first birthday last Saturday made for a natural conclusion to 52 weeks of fabric-filled photo-y goodness (click here to see ’em larger).

ClaraPics 52 Grid

But we’re going to keep going. Kind of. Before we move on to that though, let’s talk about the last photo-filled year.

ClaraPic First Final2

We’re just as surprised as anyone that we managed to maintain our weekly ritual fifty-two times in a row. In fact, today is the first Friday in 12 months that we haven’t busted out the camera, a yard of discount fabric, and a white-onesied Clara, and then used Photoshop to add the week number to her onesie after the fact. It’s kinda sad in a way. But just looking at all of the photos that we captured of our growing bean cheers us up pretty quickly. And it really surprised and flattered us to hear from many of you who were doing your own version of the project with fabric and photoshop too. The craziest thing about our weekly photo session is that our project actually got featured in a book about photographing kids: Mamarazzi, by Stacy Wasmuth. Yeah, we’re kind of in shock. And the grandparents went freaking crazy (“our grandbaby is famous!”).

ClaraPic Mamarazzi

And of course there were all of the sentimental items that the project spawned around here – like the bound photos books that we’ve ordered for ourselves and the grandparents (more on those when they arrive), the photo display that we created at Clara’s party…

ClaraPics On Fireplace

… and the items that Sherry sewed out of the leftover fabric – like her birthday banner and quilt:

Lag Banner Closer3

Quilt Not Quilted

For any of you who have considering starting (or are in the midst of) a similar project of your own, we thought it might be helpful to toss up this link back to the original “making of” post for a look at how we took and edited the pictures. Though we should add one piece of advice that didn’t become clear to us until recently: your baby won’t be a motionless blob forever!

In the early weeks many of you said “I can’t wait to see what you do once she starts moving around!” At the time we wondered how hard it could be to keep the bean on her back. Heck our biggest challenge was getting her to move enough to make the picture somewhat interesting in the early days (“oooh, that burp looked like a smile!”). But as you can see from many of our recent pictures, of course it was harder than we originally thought. Once those rolling / crawling / pulling up skills kicked in, let’s just say that Clara had little interest in waiting patiently for me to white balance. These last few photo sessions could be subtitled as “how many parents and objects are needed to block a baby from crawling off a daybed while singing and waving your arms around frantically?” The answer: a lot.

ClaraPic Rolling Around

We did find that giving her an object to hold (aka: to distract her) helped make her less wiggly – like the carrot in her Easter photo (week #49). So part of us wished we had included an object from the beginning – even if for the first few weeks it just laid by her side. Plus, if we had used the same object throughout there would be a clearer reference for scale.

The only object that was consistent in our pics was her onesie, but that wasn’t the clearest way to show off her growth. In fact, it almost looked like she got smaller when we switched from a (tight at the time) 0-3 month size to a (loose at the time) 6 month one for her 14 week picture.

ClaraPic 13 14

Because of that hiccup we actually squeezed her into that some 6 month onesie for the rest of the project (don’t worry, it stretched enough that she was plenty comfortable). The irony is that she’s such a tall glass of water that some 18-24 month pants are too short for her, but miraculously the onesie just stretched to fit her the whole time.

So even though there are a few things we might’ve done differently (someone suggested starting her in a 12 month onesie from the beginning so we could watch her gradually fill it out), we’ve got no regrets. We’re just turning those lessons learned into “adjustments” for the next year. So without further ado, here’s the beginning of year #2.

ClaraPics 12 Month Pic

We were really excited to use the fabric that we designed on Spoonflower for this shot. As for what’s different, allow me to point out the obvious (or maybe not-so-obvious):

  • Her onesie says “months.” Since her week-to-week changes became more subtle as she grew, we figured this would still do justice to her developments over year two (while also making it a more manageable project for mom and dad).
  • She’s sitting. Rather than fighting her to stay on her back, we’re embracing her desire to move and be upright. We figure this also gives us the flexibility to capture a crawling, standing, or even walking picture down the road.
  • She’s wearing a skirt. In addition to her pose, we’re gonna be less strict about her wardrobe this year too. As long as there’s something white on top to photoshop the week month onto – it flies. Since we had fun doing special things like a Halloween costume (week #24) and a Santa hat (week #32) we thought it might be fun to mix things up.
  • She’s on 2 yards of fabric. One yard of fabric wouldn’t cut it for this new sitting set-up. But since we’re only taking 12 pictures (times 2 yards = approx 24 yards of fabric), we’re still buying half as much as we did for the last 52 weeks this year. Happily we snag almost all of our fabric on clearance or with 50% off coupons from places like Hancock or JoAnn. And sometimes we use other backdrops that we already have on hand (we like to work in random duvets and towels and shower curtains that we have too since it keeps the budget down when we don’t feel like springing for new fabric).

So that’s the new plan. We’re excited to continue the project in some form, while letting the first year stand alone as a complete and finished set of pictures. We’d hate to “ruin” what we started by trying to keep weeklies going and then abruptly fall of the wagon somewhere randomly around week 71 or something. Plus, if taking these sitting pictures turns out to be easier, maybe baby #2 will get this treatment from the start (or an entirely new photo project concept – who knows).

ClaraPics Sunroom Set Up

And yes that’s green painter’s tape holding the fabric in place. Would you expect anything less from us?

Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.

Comments

  1. Ursula says

    Clara is such a happy baby. It makes me wonder if you will adopt me…I am 27 and have a husband and a pug, but we are all low maintence…don’t answer now-sleep on it! :)

    Reply

  2. Monica says

    Can’t wait to see all the adorable photos and backgrounds (and now outfits) you guys choose this year :]

    How long are you planning on taking the monthly photos? As long as you can, or have you not thought that far ahead, yet? Haha

    Reply

  3. Stephanie says

    I love it! But I’d be a little freaked out if I opened a book and saw my childs picture being used without my permission haha.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh no it was with our permission! We signed a release and everything. Haha. We were just surprised when they contacted us and wanted us to be a part of something so amazing. Especially since a lot of other people in the book are a lot more “pro” when it comes to finding their way around a camera. We’re still learning…

      xo,
      s

  4. Sarah says

    Hi guys! I love the collage of all the weekly photos together, especially on the fireplace!

    Just wanted to share another blog I read who did their child’s first year in monthly photos and sitting up, since you’d mentioned possibly doing that in the future (see the bottom of the post, and it can be clicked to view larger in flickr)… http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com/the-amazing-annabel/twelve-down/. If I’m reading correctly, it looks like they’re now doing it every 3 months in her 2nd year… http://thespohrsaremultiplying.com/the-amazing-annabel/fifteen-down/.

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  5. Kristina says

    I’m doing the weekly photo project for my daughter and I LOVE IT. Have you done a post on the photo books you made yet? Can’t wait to see how they turned out!

    Reply

  6. Sharon Goh says

    Thank you for sharing your ideas :)
    We did this for our boy and have entertained thoughts about giving up becasue he is just too “wriggly”, but we pressed on. Reaching week 52 in 2 weeks :)

    Reply

  7. LaKaye Mbah says

    I’m sooo sad that I didn’t see this while I was pregnant. I was looking for a photo idea for my baby that would be cool and came up with nothing. I just took a photo each month. I wish I had some consistency to them. *sigh* These are soo cool. Great idea!

    Reply

  9. Whozat says

    I love this. We’ve done something similar – taking monthly photos of my daughter (she’ll be 3 in a few days) with the same giant stuffed panda.

    Reply

  10. Erin says

    this is a fantastic idea! ive never know how to set up background for shoots with babies and this is wonderful! thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply

  13. Merrilee says

    I love this idea and I am wanting to use it on my new twin granddaughters. I saw instructions once on how to photoshop the images on the onsies….but now I can’t find them! Could you send me the instructions?

    Thank you!!!!

    Reply

  14. Melissa says

    I am doing this with my daughter and we love it (though her first three weeks were in the NICU, making for an interesting start). We are at Week 19 today! I am glad I have 52 weeks to master my photoshop skills…anyway…did I miss where you talk about the books you’ve ordered? I’ve been waiting to see how they turned out and who you used. Any updates? Thanks!

    Reply

  16. Mike says

    I’m adopting your two yards of fabric set-up. Thanks for sharing your ideas. – I’ve passed them on to a couple of friends who will love this site as well!

    I’m just getting into the networking potential of blogs and social media. Pinterest brought me to you…

    Reply

  17. Katie says

    Hey SherDog! I loved Clara’s pictures so much, I’m taking weekly photos of my son, too. Just a question — what size did you crop your pics? Did you make them all the same size/format (ie, 5×7) or did you just wing it? I can’t decide what’s best. Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We did crop them all the same size, though I wish I could say we were smart enough to do a standard size like 4×6. Instead we cropped week 1 however it looked good and then matched that for the other 51 weeks. It was roughly 4×6 so it worked out in the end.

      -John

  21. amanda says

    I would love to do this and was wondering hoe you add the week with PhotoShop? I’m decent at PhotoShop, so a brief overview would suffice if you have the time! Thanks!

    Reply

  24. Karen says

    One of the pictures from this page has been popping up in my pinterest feed lately with a caption that says something like “wrapping paper as a background for photography, genius!” It always makes me laugh and I have to hold my hands back to keep myself from telling them that isn’t what you use!

    Reply

  25. Danielle says

    You could use cute wrapping paper as a background as well… not sure if it would be wide enough for her 2 year shots though…

    Reply

  26. Fran says

    Hi love love love this idea you guys are truly dedicated I think i will try out for every mth when the little one is born. Where do you get the shirts and onesies please and thanks.

    Reply

  27. Christina says

    This popped up on Pinterest this evening (we have several preggo friends right now) and I turned to my husband and said, “I’ll bet you that’s Clara and Burger…” (in the wide shot showing setup for year 2). Too funny! I feel like a winner!

    Reply

  29. Lara says

    I have been doing this photo project with my 10 month old each week, and it has been so fun. I only have a few weeks left until his birthday at the end of June :( I have a few pictures of him sitting up (like weeks 45 and 50 of Clara), but I am having such a hard time getting the circle and week number to appear in perspective. I have googled it to death, but I can’t find a tutorial for how to make it look right. Any pointers on getting the perspective for the photos where Clara is sitting up? I am pretty good in Photoshop, which is why I feel SO frustrated about this. Sorry to bug you, but I feel like I am taking crazy pills! Thank you!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Well, let’s see if I can explain this in words. Haha! First we rasterize the text layer (so it’s just a flat image that we can manipulate). Then we go into the menu somewhere and find “distort” (which is under the transform tool and only shows up if a text layer is rasterized). Then using distort we can slide the boxes around the outside of the circle in and out and make it look like it has some perspective. Hope that helps!

      xo
      s

  30. Vanessa says

    LOVE THIS PROYECT and I am doing it myself (no week pictures but monthly). Question: how how HOW do you photoshop the numbers on the pictures when she isn’t laying flat on her back?? (meaning like sitting or with her hands kind of in the way) You guys are PROS, but I try and just cant do it! HELP ME PLEASE!! thanks!! Love how creative you guys are and your house is AMAZING!!! xo

    Reply

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