Inside Chinese Culture – Baby’s 100 Days Celebration
[Updated Lunar New Year 2023] – This blog is one of my most popular ones at all times, attracting readers from across the world. Baby’s 100 Days photo session is what accidentally made me a photographer. You can hear the story from my interview with Bridgewater Lifestyle. It also taught me that a good family photographer is more than just taking good photos – it is the quality to have empathy and show genuine interest to help families capture those precious moments.
100 Days Baby Milestone is celebrated by many cultures. In Chinese culture, 100 Days is an important milestone for the baby because 100 days of birth celebration represents the wish that the baby will live 100 years and reaches longevity. Usually, relatives and friends will get together for a big banquet and send gifts for the baby, similar to baby showers in Western culture. Traditionally, the baby will wear a Longevity Lock on the neck and wear something red for this special occasion. Some also wear special hats, bracelets, and anklets. However, in modern days, many parents choose not to go with traditional looks. 100 Days portraits have been widely westernized in styles.
The age stage of 100 days presents some level of challenges for the photographers. Babies are very alert so they are not as easy to be posed as newborns. Their attention spans are very short, get tired easily, might have acid reflux, and could be very grumpy at times. They cannot sit yet and their neck bones are still very soft. Some might be able to do brief moments of belly time but some still cannot. So the posing choices are very limited.
I always try to create several themes for the babies and provide different outfits, along with various shooting angles, details shoots, etc. to help make the session fuller and richer in content. I also always encourage parents and siblings to be in the photos with the babies as well.
In 2017, I started to include what I call “2D Floor Art” into 100 Days sessions. The floor art photography concept is believed to be originated from Adele Enersen. It is a style involving the creation of a theme on the floor and posing the subjects along with the theme to tell a story. I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the industry leaders in this area such as Angela Forker of Precious Baby Photography. My theme design often involved the season sessions taken and parents’ hobbies/interests. Now the floor concept has been expanded to the utilization of props that allow a bird-view angle shoot as well.
In addition, I also sourced special props suitable for the safe posing of babies in this milestone stage for more interesting theme creation.
100 Days falls under the 3 & 4 Month baby milestone stage. If you don’t celebrate 100 Days, you can always consider a 3 & 4 month milestone photoshoot.
Ready to book 100 Days or 3 & 4 Month baby milestone pictures with me? Contact me now!
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I had an extremely anxious pregnancy after my miscarriage, which is why I didn't reach out to you until so late, but you really went out of your way to accommodate and make it happen for me and my family. I'm so glad that I have all these photos of this special time in our lives and the captures of (our) brand new baby. I'll be forever grateful for the perfect moments you captured. Thank you again, so much."
"Hi Karen. Just wanted to really say thank you again for everything with our sessions. I could not be happier with how they both turned out."
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- ZHAO FAMILY
We have gotten many compliments from visiting guests. The photos you took are candid and captured true moments of joy. The product has amazing quality and yet very easy to install. I can’t wait to get another great collage for the upcoming family shoots. Thank you Karen.
"We absolutely loved the wall collage you designed for us. It has become the focal point of our great room"
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- JESSICA JACKSON
She listened to what type of photos we were looking to achieve and offered suggestions since she is in fact the professional! Karen was always very responsive if I had any questions leading up to the actual photo shoot and was an absolute pleasure to work with the day of our session. Everything went very smooth, and our proofs were delivered very quickly. After the selection process, our final images were delivered also very quickly and looked so amazing. We have received so many compliments and will be using Karen again in the future. I highly recommend MuSen Photography to anyone looking for quality professional photography!
"Karen was amazing to work with from the very beginning through to the delivery of our final photos"
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- SUE COLON
I hired her to do my daughters first birthday party photos and she captured the moment perfectly. I was so pleased with her work I hired her again to do a mother and daughters photo shoot for Mother’s Day. She NAILED IT one of the most beautiful photo shoots I have ever seen. Karen picked the location, lighting, told us how to pose her eye for perfection is beyond words she saw my vision and made it come true. She also was very easy to contact and communicate with. The turn over time to receive the photos was fast and easy. Karen is also very sweet it was truly a pleasure working with her. I highly recommend her and if perfection is what you seek Karen is definitely the one. I look forward to working with her again. Thank you so much Karen you rock .
"Karen is absolutely amazing."
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- STEPHANIE
Truthfully from the beginning when we met in the diner to the very end of our day to stay to capture all of our memories. You were a pleasure to work with and we will be using you again for sure for our family photos and every event we have. I love most about you that your attention to details and making sure you get everything right and perfect for us.
"Karen what can I say but you are fabulous"
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- JESS
Once again I'm so grateful that you managed to squeeze us in and did such wonderful work with our newborn! We absolutely love the prints and can't wait to put them up around house! I can't wait to book you for his 1 year shoot!
"Hi Karen, thank you so much!"
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