I can't tell you how many times I hear parents apologize profusely for their little ones during their family portrait sessions with me....their kids are either (in their words, not mine) "too wiggly" or "too cranky" or "too incooperative" or "too tired," or "too hungry," etc. The funny thing is, all of these apologies are completely unnecessary for a number of reasons. First, I am a mother....I know how it is. Kids are kids and their moods can often ressemble that of an expectant mother. LOL! But truth be told, some kids, no matter how great a mood they are in just DON'T like pictures. And those little ones probably end up being the big adult ones that STILL don't like their picture taken. Ha ha! And if I was being forced to smile perfectly through something that wasn't at all enjoyable for me, I'd probably cry too. :-)
Second, little do these parents realize, but very often, having a less-than-perfect situation (the moods their children are in, etc.) very often creates some of THE most priceless candid shots. This photo shoot up Little Cottonwood Canyon yesterday of my very dear friend Paige and her cute little fam was no exception. Their cute little man is one of those little ones that does NOT like pictures. It was so funny...he would be completely fine until I raised my camera...which would promptly make him scream. And not just a little scream...a really really big scream. LOL! There was no hiding how he felt about that camera...or about me. Ha ha. I zoomed in a bit on his face in the picture above...check out the way he is looking at me. He was NOT happy. LOL! However, I feel that a good photographer is not one who is only good when everyone cooperates and everyone is in a good mood. And although I haven't always been good at this, I feel like I am finally reaching a level where I can create quality images that will be priceless keepsakes...no matter what mood my subjects are in. Somehow, it always works out beautifully. And as you can see from the beautiful sepia shot above of Paige with her little guy, sometimes the emotion shown in pictures creates a priceless memory and evoke very powerful emotions...more so than a shot where everyone has pasted on smiles and is looking directly at the camera. I actually became a little emotional when I edited that shot. What a tender moment.

And sometimes, even crazy moments can be captured as joyous ones, and no one is the wiser....as you can see from the shots below. He was actually throwing a major tantrum...but look at the faces of everyone in the picture. LOL! So perfect...like professional models! Just by THEIR faces, you would think he was throwing his head back in pure happiness. Love it!
As I mentioned in my last post from my last photo shoot, I get such a kick out of watching PARENTS just to see how far they go to get their little ones to stay happy and smiling. Where the daddy of my last shoot would hang his little one upside down, THIS daddy tossed his kids so high up in the air that my heart literally skipped a few beats out of complete anxiety. The first shot I took, I literally thought I had allowed WAY enough space in my frame to catch the little guy as he was at the TOP most point of the toss. Um yeah....not the case...he flew so high, he flew right out of my frame. LOL! SUCH fun pics...LOVE THESE!!!
The killer thing about having a camera that can shoot a bajillion pics a second, is the ability to catch moments you normally wouldn't be able to catch. This comes in handy in many ways. Oftentimes, when you have little ones that are really busy or cry throughout the shoot, by shooting quickly and in large quantities, you can actually CATCH those "in between sob" moments that often look like a smile. Ha ha! I have to admit, sometimes I even surprise myself after a more "challenging" shoot, to see how many TONS of crazy killer pics I ended up with. But in the case below, it was actually the Mama who I caught in action. Oh and Paige...she is MY kind of Mama. Look very closely at the entire series of four pictures below (you absolutely have to click on each of these individually to see them enlarged to get the full effect). A little preface....little guy's binky had just fallen in the dirt....
Oh my gosh...everything from Paige sucking off the binky (and her "oh that was really gross" face) to her cute little angel posed the entire time, to daddy and little buddy having their own little happy moment all the while....perfection. PRICELESS, classic photos!! And Paige..I so love you. That is SO something I would have done. LOL! LOVE IT! And the binky saved us many a time. Love the picture below as you can actually SEE the binky (I labeled it "binky" so that you can find it easily) flying through the air as Paige non-chalently snatched it from his mouth and chucked it in the rocks, all the while, smiling beautifully into the camera. LOL! Oh Paige..you are my favorite. Love you.
I have to admit, I am very proud of this shoot. Both Paige and Lorin were so worried because their little guy was so upset for the majority of the time....and look how many beautiful shots we ended up with. I must say, that their candids are likely some of my favorite that I have captured to date. So what does this teach my future customers? Don't worry...relax...enjoy the experience...as it is. 20 years from now, when Paige and Lorin look back through these pictures, I know they will be so grateful for the very vivid and wonderful memories they will bring back. You can actually FEEL the emotion in each shot. Do you think you get that same feeling from perfectly posed shots where everyone is uniform and smiling on cue? So my point is...come as you are....and we will capture these priceless memories together...whether everyone is happy to be there or not. LOL!
Paige & Lorin's little angel is THE cutest, most photogenic little stink I have ever met. I couldn't resist her cute yawn above. LOVE IT! But my gosh...she is a HAM!!! She is very literally EVERY photographer's DREAM (I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately...I am so fortunate to have so many crazy fun subjects to photograph)!
By the end of the shoot, she was getting very silly and was giving her Mama the tightest snuggles EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now TELL ME HONESTLY...would you NOT absolutely take these shots below over a side-by-side posed shot ANY DAY OF THE WEEK?! OH MY GOSH...CLASSIC!!! And so so love that my camera actually caught Paige's EYE ROLL on the last shot after her little girl just would NOT let her go. Ahh...I seriously screamed out loud when I saw that!! Hilarious! Priceless! Classic!!!! AWESOME!
Oh my heart...as you can see by how many TONS of pics I edited, I just could not get enough of this shoot. This shoot, where the parents were so exhausted by the end and were likely convinced it may have been a waste of time and that we wouldn't end up with many pics we could work with. WORK WITH? My gosh.....this shoot...amazing! Priceless shots with emotion that you can just about TASTE! LOVE IT!
Lorin & Paige, thank you SO SO MUCH for allowing me this great opportunity to shoot your family portraits this year. Seriously...this was such an incredible shoot for me. Your family is DARLING and I sincerely hope that you are as pleased with these as I am. Until you get a chance to review your proofing CD and choose the shots that you would like me to edit, I thought I would post what was MEANT to be a "little" sneak peek and ended up being kinda humongous. But I couldn't help it!!!! There were simply too many shots that tugged at my heart and BEGGED to be edited! LOL!
The cool thing is, I know I won't have to wait long to find out what you think, Paige, since I know you have been on the computer all day long, refreshing my blog over and over again to see if I had updated it with your pics yet. LOL! Funny..I so love you! Thanks again and you will be receiving your proofing CD by the end of this week!! LOVE YOU GUYS!
