How to best prepare your children for your session
You have invested your valuable time and money into this experience and you want it to go as smoothly as possible. There can be legit anxiety around having family photos taken and my hope is to ease some of your worries. Below are tips from Seattle-based photographer Elena S. Blair.
1 First, read my guide about What To Wear To Your Session. This will help you get the best and most appropriate clothing in order.
2 Next, trust your photographer. You will be sensitive to all the minor misbehaviors that are happening but I see right through that. Lifestyle photography gives you the freedom to relax and let go of “perfection”. My job isn't to make you look perfect or to make your children behave perfectly and sit straight up on a stiff chair with a stiff smile. No, no. My job is to show you that your children are absolutely perfect just the way they are.
3 Tell them what will happen. The days leading up to the session tell them that a friend is going to be taking your family photos. Tell them that we are going to go to a really fun park and that we are going to play. Tell them that your friend will be asking them to stand and sit in a few different ways. Tell them you expect them to be in the photos. You can tell them that it will be pretty fast. My sessions are usually an hour and I still get loads of photos.
4 Show them past family photos. When kids know that this experience will result in a series of fun photos of themselves, they may be more excited. Even if you only have iPhone photos to show them, the effect is the same. Most kids LOVE to see photos of themselves.
5 Make sure that they are fed and rested. I know. We just talked and I said we had to shoot at 7 pm to get the best light. But this can be remedied by putting them down for a late nap that day or if they don't nap, clearing your schedule on photo day to allow them to rest before the shoot. Don't go on a hike and then to a soccer game on the same day as your photo shoot. Make your photos session the main event. Feed them dinner or a big snack before the session so they aren't hangry.
6 Offer a little reward for partecipating. Notice how I didn't say bribe!!!! I actually see that backfire a bit when parents say "remember that ice cream cone?" In a super frustrated voice. And trust me. I have been there many times as a mom. Instead before the shoot say "as a family we are going to go out for burgers and shakes after the session is over." Or whatever sounds good. Just make the whole experience one of bonding and fun.
7 I will never make your child smile. If they smile, it will be because they are actually happy. I am okay with honest, pensive portraits of children. I also will never make your child leave your arms if they don't feel comfortable. I will capture them exploring and being them and then sneak in some portraits along the way.
8 Show them a picture of me. Head to my Home Page and show them a photo of me so I am not a strange face to them. This will make me seem more human and relatable. My sessions are fun and relaxed. My style is laid back.
