This is Sergio Sr. Sergio Jr. and Jesse. Jesse is 6 but, going on 16. Working with children of that age is always difficult. Who wants to sit/stand still while someone takes pictures... BORING! I find that making it into a game, or asking for funny faces makes children more interested. I let him set the pace. You can't force a child to smile, or punish them for not smiling ( I have witnessed that in the past) trust me it doesn't work. In fact it only guarantees that next year when it's family portrait time, you will have a melt down on your hands. Bringing his/her favorite toy is a good idea too. You can offer to take a picture of it for him/her. I let Jesse stand where he wanted, pose like he wanted and posed the family around HIM. Another trick I use is letting the kids take a picture of his parents with my camera (camera strap ON, lol). They love that and it makes them feel more involved. My rule is let the kid be a kid and your bound to get some great shots. Here are a few from the session along with some comments to give you an idea of how the day went.
This is Jesse how he wanted to stand
Taking his own direction he thought
this would be a cute pose, I agreed.
He insisted the middle was the best place to stand.
He let me move him over here after I took his shot.
Kids get distracted, it's okay looking at the camera isn't always necessary, but a child's eyes are always worth capturing.
Look at those beautiful eyes!
Kids love when you do crazy stuff like lay on the ground.
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