I love parties. Throwing them, attending them, and of course, photographing them. If you’re going to photograph a celebration, you really want to make sure that you capture the whole thing, from start to finish. If you’re throwing the party, include pictures of the preparation all the way to the last guest leaving. You (and the guest of honor) will love being able to look back on the event and remember every tiny detail.

Recently I was one of four hosts for my friend Dana’s baby shower. I’m pretty proud of how the pictures really tell the story of the whole party.

From the food and table decorations…

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…to the mama-to-be showing off her fabulous bump…

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…to, of course, the opening of presents while the excited aunt looked on.

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The unposed shots are what show the spontaneous moments, but we also set up a fun photo area for the guests to get silly.

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Even Grandma got in on the fun!

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And of course, no baby shower would be complete without games and activities:

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I really embraced the natural light that poured through the house, and was able to get amazingly lit shots. I also used fun angles, like the first picture of the food, or this one of the beverages:

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Experiment and snap tons of pictures – you’re guaranteed to get amazing photos that will be cherished for years. And of course – HAVE FUN!

Share your favorite celebration picture—not the one where everyone is posing, but the one that captured the spirit and the atmosphere of the event by uploading examples to the TSAM Photo Fun Flickr group so we can compliment and learn from each other (If you don’t have a flickr account, just link to your photos in the comments).

Want more tips on photographing celebrations? You can find them here thanks to HP, my awesome photo partners.