Photographing kids can be a real pain adventure! They’re busy, they’re squirmy, they’re fast, sometimes they’re cranky, but guess what? Comparatively, all of that stuff is a total piece of cake. The real challenge? The cheeeeeeeeeeese. Never have I photographed a child who didn’t do exactly one of two things when I first pulled out my camera. 1. Put on their “camera face”—you know, the one that Mom has programmed into their psyche since infancy, or 2. immediately ran in the opposite direction.
Here’s some of my method of madness and tips on photographing children:
1. Remove the word “Cheese”. It’s a plastic pose, that not natural and often a horrid look in a pose.
2. Chill, relax and get on their level. I will try to get a game or even a hide and go seek in play objects with a prize at the end
3. This point is probably more important than all the others combined. You’ve got to keep mom and dad under control. Often parents are tempted to engage to try to help force get their kiddos to cooperate. This is particularly likely if the kids are being somewhat loud. I get it. I’m a mom. I want my kids to listen, be respectful and behave appropriately—especially when we’re getting our pictures taken (PS. it never happens for me, ever<wink>-not). But when mom and dad step in with their frustration and angst, we get either tears or the types of expressions that the kids are trained to give for mom and dad. . . that’s not what I’m going for. Many times, I will have mom and dad go take a long walk for a bottled water while Johnny or Jane and I tried to find that magic bubble bottle that rolled down the path….
