Never work with children or animals!
January 29, 2017
If I had a pound for everytime someone said to me ‘you know what they say, never work with children or animals”, then I really wouldn’t need to work with children or animals!
One of the biggest challenges in my job is managing multiple under 5’s. On their own, children age 2-5 years old are a pleasure to work with – on their own they are the centre of attention, they hold the stage, and they will generally play to the camera under these circumstances just perfectly. But once cousins or multiple siblings are added to the mix then all of a sudden they have rivalry and competition to contend with.
Once they get past 5, children become a little more amenable, they take bribes much easier, they can be reasoned with. And they are mostly used to sharing the limelight with their peers.
Despite the story this picture tells, I got some fabulous images of these two sets of cousins and their families. But I love this one. It just makes me smile!
The best advice I can give my clients when bringing in more than one preschooler to a shoot is to make sure they (and you) have had a good sleep, make sure you bring lots of treats and promises to bribe them with, please try to avoid tears (for all concerned!) as red eyes are very hard to edit out afterwards, and most of all, try and relax – if they sense you are uptight, they will also be on edge.
All my clients are amazed when they see the results I get from a shoot like this. What you see happening in the moment as a parent is very different from what I am able to capture. Trust me – have faith, I have always, always seen worse! All that these wonderful little people are doing is exerting their own personalities into the images I take. We all want to remember our babies smiling, laughing and being happy, where in reality, they spend most of their former years having tantrums and enforcing their power over us!
My job is to bring out the smiles and filter out the rest so you have family photographs to treasure forever.
For more information on generational family portraits or children’s photography, please get in touch.
Katherine x
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