You know how you can plan and plan and yet still somehow everything just falls apart? That's pretty much a given in our job. What was to be a fun styled photo session with my own children turned into a total failure to launch... and what can be done for it? Not much... you go with it. 

Meara and Cailin Sept 6 2017-2.jpg Here is a image captured when my youngest, in spite of being super excited to do her hair, change into the pretty dress wear the fancy shoes and even a little bit of make-up just for photos changed her mind upon reaching the location and decided she no longer felt like co-operating.

Naturally, just like any parent who has gone through the extremely tedious part of getting her ready, I was feeling the frustration when she suddenly changed moods and pulled out her most pouty I'm-Not-Going-To-Cooperate-With-You attitude. I took a deep breath and let the inner photographer take hold. This shot wasn't at all what I had envisioned, but it turned out in spite of that. Sometimes the things you get when you stop planning and just go with with the flow end up much better than what you originally had in mind. 

The real challenge to taking children's photos isn't lighting, focus, exposure, pose or any other technical photographic issue... it's dealing with your tiny subject's moods.  One of the most common challenges parents face when it's "picture day" is that the children are usually choosing that time to be tired, hungry, or just moody and they begin to feel frustrated and embarrassed... so my message today is - Don't sweat it! Relax. Laugh it off. Kids will be kids. 

Meara and Cailin Sept 6 2017-6930-3781.jpg  

As photographers we are very used to this situation and in most cases we can get things turned around with jokes, or just being goofy enough to distract, it's all just part of the job... in this case it took giving her a bit of time to just do her own thing, a terrible knock-knock joke and a bit of shameless bribery... but I got the smile and that's what counts! ~ Brandi