Sunday, May 1, 2011

First Family Shoot

We've had some abysmal weather over the past few days ... winter just won't let go around here ... strong wind, rain, snow, hail, sleet ... rapidly changing skies.

Despite this, over two days this last week, my friend Shawna volunteered her family (herself, her two daughters aged about 20 months and 4 years, and her partner) as test subjects for my first family shoot.

I needed a specific couple of shots for my unit 4 project photographs, and Shawna and her family were willing and able to offer two requirements: A young child, and a group of three or more people. Of course, I shot a whole bunch of other types of shots, too!

So a great big thank you goes to Shawna, who is also a photographer, for helping me with the supreme tasks of herding cats ... I mean, corralling the children ... and suggesting locations, poses, etc.

I'm not familiar with children - don't have any, don't come into contact with many! So, despite my valiant efforts at friendliness and approachability on their level, I think they smell the fear in the air, and often leave me stumped for ideas of what to do next, how to elicit a smile, how to distract a child that's fixedly staring at the ground, etc!

That said, I think I got a few good ones ...






5 comments:

  1. Lovely shots. I'm sure the family was very pleased by these. :)

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  2. Thanks, Karen! I haven't heard from the family yet. I was SO far out of my comfort zone, though, so am pretty pleased with them!

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  3. Congratulations to your first family shoot! Wow, what a great job!

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  4. Thanks, ladies, I'm pleased with the results! I had a lot of help from Shawna re poses, getting the kids' attention, etc!

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  5. Tanya, these turned out really well, especially for your first family photo. I especially like the lower-angle perspective on your opening shot. Working with kids isn't easy, even when your comfortable with them. My family shot for Unit 4 included a 3 year old, who was just not interested in having his picture taken. We did what we could, and my partner got a good shot of him running through the arboretum. One piece of advice I have when working with kids, is not to work alone!

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