Ah, the family photography session. You pick your photographer, you pick your outfits, and you rush around the house to look perfect for your shoot. You arrive ontime and get started, the kids just aren’t smiling as much as they do at home with your camera. They want to squirm around and run away. Parents often get stressed out when their kids aren’t doing what they imagined at the photo session. Relax, its ok! As a photographer, I am prepared for your children to absolutly hate my camera. As a result, I end up doing a bunch of funny stuff behind the camera to get their attention. The person worried about the childrens behavior the most is Mom and the person who gets frustrated the most is Dad. So relax!
As a Lifestyle photographer, I want you and your family to interact, so play, laugh have fun, ride in the wagon, swing on the swings, read a book, run around, take a walk, or do whatever it is that you do on a normal basis to have fun with your kids. Portraits are about capturing and embracing personality. If you want those super posed school photos with the backdrop, you buy them. Lets face it, most families find a professional photographer because they want to see beautiful, colorful, interactive images on their wall.
Here are a few tips for preparing your family for your photography session. This post is meant to help you be prepared and just have fun as a family. In the end you will be thankful that you took a few extra minutes to prepare so that you can relax.
1. Scheduling- Schedule your session with your photographer based on the best time of day that your kids are the most pleaseant for you. This may be after a meal, after a nap, after bathtime, you know your kids best.
2. Bring snacks- Kids get worn out quicker than us adults. An hour is a long time in kid world. Let them recharge with a few bites of food. Pack some snacks for you too, just in case you forgot to eat. Plus all of that running around getting ready, probably wore you out more than you thought.
3. Plan- Bring an extra set of clothes for kiddos, make sure your bag is packed, give yourself 10 extra minutes, and know where you are going. Arrive before the session if possible. You want to get a parking spot and get the kids out of the car and acclimated to the shoot location.
4. Comforts- Bring favorite toys and a few other comforts from home to help the kids feel like they aren’t completely in a foreign place. At least they have their favorite item. These can also be used as an interactive peice that I can use as the photographer to interacte with your kids.
5. Let go- Let your expectations go out the door and just interact with your family. Of course times may come up where you do need to redirect the kids, get help from your partner and be specific about what is needed. If you need me as the photographer to back off for a few minutes and let the kids play. Just say it, it will make for cute interactive photographs. Besides the kids can run around and Mom and Dad can get a few shots.
Did you find this helpful? do you have any other suggestions? Maybe you have more suggestions for parents? Please leave your comment below.
Lori J Photography - Creating Memories for a Lifetime 