Entry for March 16, 2008

I had my sister Kerri over recently to model for me.  I got this gypsy scarf at a renaissance fair and had an idea for a neat picture.  Ella wasn’t too sure about letting her auntie take her place in front of the camera.  Ella was especially upset about Kerri playing with the scarf.  Ella was so upset that we were having trouble keeping her away from Kerri and the set so I gated her off in the kitchen so we could continue.  Her hysterical crying cut the session short, but we got what we wanted so it didn’t matter.  I let Ella out of her prison and she shot out towards the set and pushed Kerri away with a NO!  Then she grabbed the scarf and wrapped it around herself and proceeded to copy the pose that Kerri had been in!  I grabbed my camera and started shooting as Ella reenacted the whole photo shoot.  I got some great shots of Ella too, and it was so funny!  I guess the way to get Ella to pose for me is to try to take pictures of someone else so she gets jealous.  Here are some of my favorites from the session. 

 

The trees have begun to show their blooms around here and the world looks and smells like spring!  I am so excited for my family Easter shoot this weekend and I hope that the flowers are still out by then.  I was worried that the hailstorm we had yesterday was going to take all the blooms off but most of them managed to survive.  Hopefully we will have a great spring season full of color and warmth!  I will post some Easter pictures in next weeks entry!

 

For this week’s photo tip I wanted to talk about getting natural expressions from your kids.  If you are trying to take a portrait of a small child, don’t make the experience scary.  When I have small children in my studio, I let them look at, touch and even hold my camera.  When you make something forbidden to a child, it becomes either instantly fascinating and they want to have it, have it, HAVE It! Or it becomes scary to them and they want to run away.  When I give them a chance to see and touch the camera, they are usually less scared and less interested in it after they are done taking a look.   Chances are as long as you are there beside them helping them to explore the camera they are not going to drop it or break it.  Getting them familiar with the camera this way is well worth the risk and helps them to become comfortable around the equipment much faster.

 Don’t yell and shout to you kid and tell them to “sit up” “look at me”  “Smile”.  This only gets both you and the kid frustrated.  I usually just let the kids play with something on the set, and then every once and a while call their name or ask them a question.  When they look up, their expressions are more real and genuine, and more “them” than the stiff posed forced smiles. Talk to the kids about something they love… Spongebob, Cinderella, Cars, whatever they are into.  Ask them silly questions about their hobbies and families.  You will get some great shots of the kids being themselves.  I had a boy a couple of weeks ago, who loves to shoot his BB gun with his dad, I asked him some questions about it and I got a great shot of him showing me how to shoot a gun.  This picture shows his personality much more than a sit-and-smile does.

 

This can be difficult, especially with your own child.  I will do sessions, like the outdoors ones I showed examples of a couple of weeks ago, where I don’t get a single good picture of Ella looking at me and smiling, but I usually get several where her personality shines.  Don’t get frustrated at the picture of your kids back as they run away after whatever has captured their attention, treasure it as a photograph of the true essence of childhood and the wonderment that it captures.  I have several pictures like this that I love because it shows how much joy Ella gets from running.  Sometimes the pictures most treasured are the ones of kids just being kids.