It’s quite a common concern when people come to the studio that their baby won’t be in the mood to have their picture taken and it’s quite a valid one really when you think about it. I mean, if you’ve ever met a baby, they are crazy creatures – happy one minute, screaming the place down the next. And there’s no reasoning with these beautiful tyrants either. That’s why they say never work with children and animals.
Liam, the gorgeous little boy in the pictures above, didn’t fancy it on our first attempt. So we rescheduled and the second time it all went swimmingly.
Still if I wasn’t comfortable working with kids, then I would be a lot greyer than I am right now. Actually that’s a bad example as I’m pretty grey and I dye it to cover up but you get my drift.
A lot of the art of getting it right in the studio is kind of down to mum and dad and the time that they schedule the photo shoot. Babies do have a habit of changing their routine but they do normally have a time when they are happier than others. So ideally, they would come to the studio with a full belly and having had enough sleep. ‘Yeah, cos it’s just that easy’ I hear you scream! Well that’s the theory and starting by scheduling a session time when this is more likely to be the case definitely helps.
Then, we have the studio for an hour in a standard baby photography club photo shoot or family portrait session (it’s a lot more for newborns but they are a whole different kettle of fish). So we have time when you are here to settle nerves at being in a new place, take a feed break and of course to have lots of cuddles.
Then, and this goes back to the whole being grey issue, I’ve been doing this for a long time so I’ve built up quite an arsenal of baby photography tactics. These might be different posing ideas, for example a baby might be comfy on their front or their back but hate sitting up or vice versa. I have a number of distraction tactics, tricks and other subterfuge to let us get the images that we want almost without your baby cottoning on to what we’re up to. I mean, if you’ve ever tried to ask a one year old to do something you will know that there is definitely a law of diminishing returns in proportion with how much you want them to do it.
Then, if all else fails, we simply reschedule the appointment. A baby isn’t a great communicator yet at least not when it comes down to the specifics. They’re great at letting you know when they’re unhappy and sometimes we simply can’t workout why or fix it there and then. Quite often, a day or two after an abandoned session, they will cut a tooth or catch a cold or something and everything becomes clear.
Tiny people are different from one day to the next and I’m quite used to their ways. There’s pretty much nothing they can do that’s going to freak me out – although one little boy who was just finding his feet did fall over and bite his lip. It wasn’t a bad injury at all but when he looked up with blood running down his chin, I did get a bit of a surprise! Still, we rescheduled and he had a blast at his session when he came back in.
The main thing is that it doesn’t need to be a stressful experience. In fact I would say if you don’t worry or bring with you an expectation that there will be a problem then the chances are we will be fine – you know how your little one will pick up on your energy so relax and get ready to enjoy your photo shoot. Plus it’s good to get some shots of their serious little faces too, they’re just as gorgeous!
