Kids will be kids no matter what!
When it comes to family photo sessions one thing is almost guaranteed. Expect the unexpected. We’ve had quite a few parents tell us “oh, it won’t be a problem. [insert child’s name] loves getting their photo taken”; only to find they’re camera shy on the day.
It’s fair enough when you think about it from their point-of-view. Most kids are used to cell phones or wee point-and-shoot cameras coming out to grab a few shots. But all of a sudden they have a couple of strangers trying to tell them what to do while pointing a rather intimidating monster of a camera at them.
When we do family sessions we try to let parents know it’s ok for us to spend a little time getting to know their child, or even just waiting for them. In fact, we set up our family sessions to include a little time for that very reason.
We’ve also found kids tend to do the opposite of what you want. Especially if parents start worrying about their kids not behaving or doing as they’re told. I’ll let you in on a wee secret, most kids are like that. In fact most kids fit into one of three categories: Suddenly Shy, Class Clown, or Future Model.
And sometimes they can be a combination or could end up being all three at various stages throughout the session. Patience is the key here.
It’s important to let the kids set the pace of these sessions and work with them to get some great shots. It’s also important to keep in mind that kids don’t always have to be smiling or looking at the camera to get a nice shot. Take this one for example:
When we started the photo shoot this wee man was adamant that he wasn’t going to be involved at all. We used that time to get individual and ‘girls only’ shots of his sisters. It wasn’t long before curiosity got the better of him and he came over to see what was going on (which is when we snuck this shot in).
He’s not smiling in this photo; he’s not even looking at the camera. In fact he looks downright miserable. But we absolutely loved the truth and emotion in this photo. This was him, as he was at that moment on the day.
His Mother was worried he was wasting our time, and tried to coax him to join in. Of course this wasn’t successful in the slightest.
But with a little patience and by letting him come round to the idea in his own time; not only did we get great shots of his sisters (see a few below), but we ended up with this fantastic image of him to cap the session off:
The moral of that story is kids are unpredictable and sometimes it’s best just to let kids be kids. Roll with it. You may not get the photos you thought you were going to get, but you might be surprised at the results.
As promised here are a couple taken of his sisters while we were waiting for him to join in:
What do you think? Leave us a comment below to let us know your experiences either behind the camera or as a parent trying to get photos of your kids.
