Aria’s 4th Birthday

andrewFamily Portraits, Outdoors, Portraits

Aria is a sweet little girl who just turned 4. As she is our niece we wanted to get her a gift for her birthday. Aria is, however, an only child and has everything… so we were perplexed as what to get her that she didn’t already have. Then… it hit us! Every year for her birthday we could give her a photoshoot! We wanted it to be really special so we decided on a theme that really displayed who Aria is. I did some “research” on Pinterest and created a mood board. After discussing it with each other we couldn’t decide on just one shoot, so we compromised on two!

After deciding to go for a vintage “runaway” photoshoot we needed to get Aria’s hair done. There is ONLY one place for such things… Shine! Christine did an AMAZING job and was so patient with Aria, as Aria had 101 questions and simply could not contain all of her excitement. We took every chance to capture the moments!children's portraits photography, girl getting her hair done at a salon for the first time children's photography, young girl in a salon with curlers in her hair smiling, retro children children's photography, young girl with curlers in her hair under a hair dryer looking at a Marilyn Monroe magazine, life magazine, kid's retro hair, vintage rockabilly

After Aria’s hair was all done and she was dressed she looked more like an 8 year-old than a 4 year-old!! (The fact that Joelle’s shoes near fit her didn’t help either!) Then it was off to Fort George Park! We had scoped out the location the day before but when we arrived the “train station” was littered with 20 children and several daycare workers from Exploration Place. We were a bit mortified because it is no easy undertaking to doll up a 4 year-old! We kindly asked the daycare workers if relocating for a half hour would be possible to which they graciously obliged. While the daycare workers rounded up their rascals we took a few shots down the track. The results were quite satisfactory! Isn’t she the cutest?! children's photography, young girl in high heels and victory rolls hitchhiking at railroad tracks, children's pictures railroad tracks, runaway children's photography, young girl in red high heels sitting on a red suitcase by railroad tracks in a green dress and vintage hair, runaway children's photography, young girl in high heels and vintage hair curtsy by railroad tracks, runaway, vintage victory rolls, pin up photography children's portraits, young girl with victory rollsl in red high heels with red luggage by railroad tracks

Once the kids from the daycare at Exploration place were comfortable in a new location we regrouped at the mini train station.children's photography, children's portraits, young girl at train station with luggage in a green dress with vintage hair children's photography, birthday portraits, young girl in a green dress with rockabilly hair waiting at train station reading a magazine childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-12 childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-13 children's photography, kid's portraits, little girl sitting on suitcases at the train station reading a magazine with vintage hair children's photography, vintage children's portraits, little girl sitting on suitcases reading a marilyn monroe magazine at a railway station childrens photography, little girl at the train station in high heels reading a magazine, vintage hair, retro kids photos children's portraits, children's photography, vintage recreation photos, little girl with luggage waiting at train station, victory rolls

After the “train station” we needed a play break and we took Aria to the playground to blow off some steam!childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-19 childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-20 childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-18

Next up was the skate park. This was definitely Aria’s favorite photoshoot of the two. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot she squealed with excitement. Aria was totally enthralled with the whole process of the (washable) tattoo process. She was insistent upon carrying the skateboard and even skated part way from the parking lot to the park. As soon as we got set up with our cameras she was owning the shoot, completely hamming it up!children's portraits, little skater girl with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with sunglasses on retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with sunglasses and retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard with her hands on her hips in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with sunglasses and retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve holding a skateboard going down stairs in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with sunglasses and retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve carrying a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl

We even had one teenage boy at the skate park ask us if her tattoos were real!children's portraits, little skater girl with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl smiling with sunglasses and retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, little skater girl making a duck face wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve sitting on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve laying on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve sitting on a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve standing on a skateboard flexing her muscles in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl children's portraits, smiling little skater girl wearing sunglasses with retro hair and fake tattoo sleeve holding a skateboard in a skate park on a sunny day, children's photography, skater girl

After all that hard work we had a Kinder Surprise and some more playtime on the slide next to the skate park and it was home for supper! It was a super fun day had by all (but we were all pretty tired :D)childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-39 childrens-birthday-portraits-photography-theBIGpicture-badass-vintage-runaway-40