Families Post #7

Families are the staple of studio photography.  The mom’s that want pictures of their babies. The mom’s that work so hard to get everyone together once a year for the annual family photos. Family pictures are a big thing because it is how we create memories of how we were when our kids were little and capturing personalities. These memories are something that they can treasure forever. One thing about shooting a family is trying to get all the kiddos to smile at the same time, which can be a challenge. Especially with a two-year-old! I normally have to bring out the tickle stick (feather duster). It is easiest because it lets me tickle multiple kids and gives me the chance I need to jump back and take the picture before the smiles are gone. The other challenges are when doing a large group there are so many people to check and make sure that they are all looking at the same time. Grandmas tend to want to look at the grand-kids more than me. 😊

Life's a Beach! Post # 6

Each July the place I work at is ready for fun in the sun and we create a beach setting inside of our studio! We buy roughly fifteen fifty pounds of sand to cover the entire floor of our front studio. It is fun and messy all at the same time. Not to mention we get the cutest pictures!! We try to come up with unique and exciting themes each month! The themes are a great way to drum up business! During the month, we have the beach we run a contest to see who can get the most likes on their beach baby photo!

The thing about the beach is that most kids have a love it or hate it relationship with the sand! It's cold and freaks them out sometimes. But overall it is my favorite theme we offer!

Somebunnies love pictures! Post #5

This week I have taken more Easter pictures than I can possible imagine. During the month or so that leads up to Easter we bring in live bunnies every year at work. They are trained to sit in small flower pots, stand up, and some can even have tea parties. They are so darn cute and pretty much all the mommy's love them. That is not always the case with the kiddos though. Some LOVE the bunnies and we cannot get them to leave and others scream their heads off or won’t come out from behind mom or dad. Working with the bunnies is a lot of fun. It just gets a little tough when the bunnies won’t sit still or the two-year-old keeps running away. Today in particular one of my long-time clients brought in their eighteen month old. She would just pick up the bunny and then hand it back to us every time. She wanted nothing to do with them, she only wanted to play with the Easter eggs!

Here is a link to the studio that I work at!
...Worth A 1000 Words Studios

Birthday Babies Post #4

The next big milestone that parents bring their little ones in for is 1st birthdays. As a kid, birthdays are a big deal and what is a bigger deal to most parents than their kiddos turning one. Working with a one year old has its own set of challenges. By the time a child has turned one they are mobile and independent. There is no telling a one year old what to do. They like to do their own thing and want nothing to do with sitting still. After awhile every photographer develops tricks of the trade so to say. We find things that distract and entertain the kids while getting the shots they need. One of my personal favorites right now is using a feather duster. Yes, a feather duster! Tickling kids with the duster is a great way to get them laughing and give you enough time to jump back and snap that image. A few others tricks are having them give you a high five and pretending it hurt, or having them call you a monkey, Turkey, or whatever. Today in particular I used my lost rubber duck trick. I put the duck on my head and asked them if they could find it and when they did I start to fake sneeze and knocked the duck off my head and caught it. For whatever reason kids think it is one of the funniest things they have ever seen!

One big part of a 1^st birthday session is doing a cake smash. Letting kids stuff as much cake into their mouths as they can, seems to be a rite of passage when turning one. Basically, give a kid a cake and see how messy they can get before crashing from a sugar high. Even though the cleanup kind of stinks it is pretty cute and fun to watch!