100 Days Baby Photography in NYC — The Baek-il Tradition | YourCherish

100 Days Baby Photography in NYC — Celebrating the Baek-il Milestone

One hundred days of life. In Korean tradition, the baek-il — literally "one hundred days" — marks the point at which a newborn has safely passed the most vulnerable period of early infancy. It is cause for celebration, for gratitude, and increasingly in the Korean-American community and among many other families in New York City, for photography.

If you're looking for a photographer who understands what this milestone means and can document it with the care it deserves, here is everything you need to know.

What Is the Baek-il?

Historically in Korea, infant mortality in the first 100 days of life was significant enough that reaching this milestone was genuinely celebrated as a threshold of survival. The baek-il became a family and community celebration — special food, white rice cakes (baek-seolgi), the gathering of family, and prayers of thanks.

In modern Korean and Korean-American families, the baek-il has evolved into a milestone that combines cultural continuity with contemporary celebration. The baby is dressed in traditional hanbok for photos. Family gathers. The moment is documented.

Many non-Korean families have also discovered the 100-day milestone and adopted it as a meaningful photography occasion — a point at which the newborn stage has passed and the baby is awake, alert, and beginning to show personality, but is still in the earliest, most compact stage of infancy.

What Makes a 100-Day Session Different from a Newborn Session

At 100 days, the baby is approximately three months old. This is a different stage than the first two weeks, with different characteristics and different photographic possibilities.

The baby is awake and engaged. A 100-day baby is tracking faces, making eye contact, attempting early social smiles. The images capture a different kind of life than a sleeping newborn session allows.

There is personality showing. The specific person your baby is becoming — their expressions, their reactions, the way they look at you — is already present at three months in a way that was just beginning to emerge in the newborn photos.

The hanbok. Traditional Korean dress on a three-month-old photographs beautifully. The silk fabric, the bright colors, the specific proportion of traditional children's clothing against a round, three-month baby — these images have a quality that casual Western dress doesn't approach.

How We Photograph 100-Day Sessions

We work with what you have and what matters to you. Some families want a simple, clean setup — the baby in hanbok against a neutral backdrop, portraits that center the clothing and the face. Others want the full family included — grandparents, siblings, the whole extended family that has gathered for the baek-il.

We offer: - In-home sessions in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and New Jersey - Studio-style setups brought to your home — backdrops, professional lighting - Outdoor sessions in parks throughout NYC if the weather and the family's preference calls for it - Hanbok and traditional elements welcome — we plan specifically around them

Sessions run 1 to 1.5 hours.

NYC's Korean and Asian Communities

New York City has one of the largest Korean-American populations of any city in the United States, concentrated in Flushing and Murray Hill in Queens, Koreatown in Manhattan, and communities throughout New Jersey — Fort Lee, Palisades Park, Ridgewood, Cliffside Park.

We serve families throughout all of these communities. We have photographed baek-il sessions in Flushing, Murray Hill, Fort Lee, and across Manhattan and Brooklyn.

If you are planning a baek-il celebration and would like to have it documented, reach out early. Sessions in the Flushing and Fort Lee area book particularly quickly.

Booking

100-day sessions are available throughout the year. We recommend booking 3 to 4 weeks before your expected session date.

Email love@yourcherish.com to discuss your 100-day session, or contact us here → — we will respond within one business day.

Olga Zinner · Documentary photographer · Founder, YourCherish · April 2026