Game On!
A 7th Birthday Photoshoot at Fun Depot in Lake Worth Beach.
Not every childhood memory needs a sunset, a beach, or a field of flowers. For my son's seventh birthday, I wanted photos that felt like him at seven, colorful, silly, energetic and just a little chaotic. At the time, Among Us was everywhere, he loved the characters, and I kept thinking about how perfectly the bright colors and video-game theme would fit inside an arcade. So instead of planning a traditional birthday portrait session, we grabbed his little purple Among Us character and headed to Fun Depot in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.
And honestly? An arcade made a pretty incredible backdrop.
A Little Full-Circle Moment at Fun Depot
Fun Depot already had some history for me long before I brought my son there with my camera.
It was actually my first job when I was 16. I worked the front desk, go-karts, laser tag, pretty much wherever I was needed. The building has changed quite a bit since then, but it's still owned by the same family, and even one of the managers I remember from those days is still there. Coming back years later as a mom and photographer to create seventh-birthday portraits of my own child felt a little surreal. This time, instead of working behind the counter, I was following a seven-year-old around an arcade with a camera while he carried an Among Us plush from game to game.
Life is weird like that.
Why Choose an Arcade for Birthday Photos?
I love a beautiful South Florida beach or park, but the location of a portrait session doesn't always have to be traditionally "pretty." Sometimes the best location is simply somewhere that fits the person you're photographing.
At seven, my son loved video games. Among Us was popular, he loved the characters, and an arcade gave us a world that already matched his interests without having to build an elaborate birthday set.
The games became our backdrop. Rows of glowing machines gave us blues, purples, reds and greens. Skee-Ball created these long lines of yellow leading right toward him. Racing games surrounded him with neon. Even something as simple as an air-hockey table became part of the composition. And that little Among Us character tied everything together. I didn't need a truckload of props. I just needed one thing that felt like him and an environment where he could have fun.
The Best Part? He Had Something to Do
This is one of the reasons I love creating portraits around an experience rather than expecting children to stand still and smile on command. He could actually play.
We moved through the arcade, stopped at games that caught his attention, played Skee-Ball, explored the racing games and let him be ridiculous.
And yes, I still took some more traditional portraits where I asked him to look at me, but between those photographs were the huge laughs, goofy expressions and little moments that happened because he was genuinely enjoying himself. Those are some of my favorites.
When kids have something to interact with, I'm not relying entirely on "Okay, stand here. Now smile!"
I can give them room to be themselves and photograph what happens. For birthday photos especially, I think there's something wonderful about preserving who your child actually was at that age, including the games, characters and obsessions that might be completely different a year from now.
Photographing All Those Arcade Lights
From a photographer's perspective, this session was both incredibly fun and surprisingly challenging. Arcades look amazing to our eyes because there is light everywhere, but that doesn't mean there's good light everywhere.
One game might be throwing bright blue light across someone's face while another adds red from the opposite direction. Some screens are extremely bright while the surrounding room is dark. The colors and exposure can change simply by walking a few feet. And Fun Depot was busy. This wasn't a private studio where I could move things around, control the lighting or ask everyone to clear the background. I had to work with what was happening around us. But that's also part of what makes these photographs feel alive. Rather than fighting all of the arcade lighting, I leaned into it. When exposed correctly, those colorful lights became part of the photographs themselves.
The result is completely different from my outdoor sessions and that's exactly what I wanted.
Your Child's Interests Can Be Part of Their Portraits
The little Among Us character ended up appearing everywhere.
Sometimes my son held it. Sometimes it sat beside him. Sometimes I placed it directly into the scene and let it become almost another character in the photographs. It gave the entire session a playful thread without every photograph needing to scream THEME!
That's something parents can take from this session even if their child couldn't care less about video games. Think about what they're obsessed with right now.
Dinosaurs. Princesses. Pokémon. Books. Soccer. Fairies. Superheroes. Skateboards. Music. Art.
Those interests don't have to be something we hide to create a "timeless" portrait. Sometimes they're exactly what makes a photograph worth keeping. Years later, you don't only remember what your child looked like. You remember the phase when they carried that one stuffed animal everywhere, wore the same character shirt whenever you'd allow it, or talked endlessly about their favorite game.
Those details are part of their story too.
Could You Have Birthday Photos Taken at Fun Depot?
This particular shoot was a personal birthday session with my own son, not a regularly offered professional session at Fun Depot.
Fun Depot is a private business rather than a public photography location, so professional photography sessions or event coverage should always be coordinated with the venue beforehand. But this experience did make me think differently about birthday photography.
Parents put so much work into planning birthday celebrations, and then they're often the ones trying to experience the party while simultaneously pulling out their phones to document it. I'd much rather see Mom and Dad in some of those memories too. That's why I offer birthday and event photography throughout Palm Beach County, documenting the decorations and little details, but more importantly, the people actually enjoying the celebration.
A Very Different Kind of Lake Worth Birthday Photoshoot
These photographs aren't perfect because we found a perfectly controlled location.
They're special to me because they're unmistakably him at seven.
The missing teeth.
The Among Us shirt.
That ridiculous purple character.
The games he loved.
The giant laugh when he stopped worrying about the camera.
And an arcade that happens to carry a little bit of my own childhood history too.
That's ultimately what I want photographs to do.
Not just show you what someone looked like, but remind you who they were in that moment.
Sometimes that happens barefoot on a South Florida beach.
Sometimes it happens underneath a canopy of trees.
And sometimes your everyday fairytale happens under the glow of an arcade machine.
Planning a Birthday or Event in Palm Beach County?
I'm Kelsey, the photographer behind Photogenic Fox Photography, based in Lake Worth, Florida. I photograph families, birthdays, milestones and events throughout Palm Beach County with a focus on vibrant color, genuine personality and the moments that happen when you're actually having fun.
If you're planning a birthday celebration and would rather be in the memories than spend the entire party taking them, I'd love to photograph it for you.
