Yay! Mats
Real Life on a Really Good Mat: A Lifestyle Shoot for Baby Play Mats
There's a problem that every parent knows: baby gear is relentlessly ugly. Loud colors, cartoon characters, foam tiles printed with the alphabet in neon yellow — functional, sure, but not exactly something you want front and center in your living room. Yay! Mats was founded specifically to solve that problem, and they've done it beautifully.
While there are a lot of toddler and baby playmats on the market, typical foam playmats are rarely something you'd want to leave out in your home. Yay! Mats offers a line of modern playmats for babies and toddlers that look good enough to display in a nursery or playroom — or even your den or living room. Yay Mats Store. The mat we featured in this shoot is their ikat-patterned design in soft blue and white — the kind of thing that genuinely looks like a rug until you get close enough to realize it's foam. Interlocking tiles, half an inch thick, non-slip, waterproof, and stain-resistant Yay Mats Store, assembled into a 6 x 4 foot play space right in the middle of the living room.
For this shoot I worked with a real mom and her toddler daughter in their own home, and that authenticity made all the difference. We didn't choreograph much. I set up the mat, let them do what they do, and followed. What followed was a lot of giggling, a lot of rolling around on the floor, and one very pleased toddler who had absolutely no interest in sitting still for the camera — which is exactly right.
Some of my favorite frames from the session are the simplest: mom kneeling on the hardwood, pressing two foam tiles together while her daughter crawls right across them, curious about every click and seam. The overhead shot of the two of them tangled up, laughing on the mat. The quiet moment of the little girl sitting alone, cross-legged, just existing in the soft light from the window. That last one — a baby portrait with no fuss, just good light and a comfortable surface — is the whole brand promise in a single image.
Yay! Mats was created because there was a need for modern and functional foam mats for babies and young children. While typical mats are cumbersome and impractical, theirs are versatile and can be easily transported. That ethos — practical and beautiful, not one or the other — is what made this shoot so fun to approach. The mat is genuinely attractive. The home is real. The family is real. My job was just to document what happens when you put them all together.
If you make a product for families and you want photography that shows it living in an actual home, with actual people, I'd love to work with you.
Leah Flores is a Portland-based commercial photographer with nearly 20 years of experience working with brands including Nike, National Geographic, and VICE News. She specializes in lifestyle, family, and product brand photography across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
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