How to photograph a birthday party

This weekend we celebrated my dear ole Dad's 50th birthday with a whole lot of friends, family and frivolity. During the party, I stumbled across what I consider to be the perfect guide to photographing a birthday party. The trick is identifying those key components which are staple at every birthday party (ie. singing "Happy Birthday") and capturing them one by one. Make sure you pay attention to the special details along the way, because every party is unique.

I find it's best to photograph the food and decorations first, before they're equally devoured by the masses.

Next up is the Birthday Girl in her Party dress.

After that comes pictures of the birthday presents and cute kids.


To really capture the spirit of the party, take shots of all the activities. Here we had off-pitch karaoke, a highly suspenseful game of Jenga, and a conglomeration of kitchen competitions involving throwing tin foil balls and protective gear (a "Shannon specialty").

Once you've finished all that, the only thing left to do is photograph the guests!

Voila! The Perfect Guide to Photographing a Birthday Party, by yours truly. I hope you learned a few good tricks (and had plenty of good laughs)...

Happy Birthday Dad!
We love you...

even though you're officially old
and you don't read my blog