Here's 5 Tips to Staying Sane:
I want to preface this by saying that I don't have kids of my own, but I work with them 89% of the time and BOY have I learned some things.
I also want to preface this by saying that these rules may not apply in "real life", but in photoshoot-land I promise they will help you to not want to start drinking ten minutes into your session.
1. You are Not Alone.
I see this every day. I see the look in your eyes- the embarrassment that your children are not the perfect angels in front of strangers you try to prepare them to be. They are now children who won't smile, who won't look at the camera, who make too many funny faces, who run around, who won't sit still- I could go on and on. Repeat after me: I AM NOT ALONE. Now say that again. This is every child. If they are well behaved during the session, they won't smile. If they're little hellions, they "ruin" the picture. Remind yourself that you're doing an amazing job raising said child/children. Remind yourself that you are not the only one whose kids do these things. Trust me.
2. Remember They are Kids.
This seems really obvious, but sometimes we forget. When I say "remember they are kids", I mean remember that they are little human beings whose brains have not yet fully developed and they slobber and they scream and cry and run away from you and then they laugh in your face because they can see in your eyes how STRESSED OUT you are... and then they laugh some more. I know that was the longest run-on sentence ever but get used to it, grammar freaks. Your kid will probably eat grass. Or sticks. Or leaves. Or trash. Most definitely trash. Or they find a large piece of Styrofoam in the middle of the woods that some ignorant human being couldn't just throw in the trash, and they throw it and play with it and rip it to shreds and then get tiny Styrofoam particles stuck in their skirts and tangled in their hair and you want to rip your eyes out (this literally happened once lol). Your kid will take their shoes off, or keep pulling their bow out of their hair, or get mud on their perfectly ironed outfit, or they might just sit there staring at me for two hours (see #3 below). You might think your kid is perfect coming into this.You might give them a pep talk before the session. You might even bribe them with some sort of treat once it's over. But your kid is not an exception. Your kid will be like all other kids. Please read tip one again for a reminder that you're still doing amazing.
3. Prepare for the stare down.
Now this one is more for the two and under crowd. Sure, you might assume that your one year old is used to having their photo taken by now because collectively we all take 9686795 photos a day with our cell phones. But alas, I guarantee your child will stare straight at me, emotionless... like they've been reborn and are opening their eyes for the very first time. They will stare me down like we're in the most epic staring contest of all time and they. will. win. And that's okay. They might warm up to me. They might not. But give me a chance. Give them a chance. If we need to take breaks, I welcome that. I'll let them look at the foreign object making weird clicking sounds, I'll let them even take a few shots. Your child might even be a better photographer than me, who knows! Constantly grabbing them and moving them or getting upset with them won't help them, it won't help you, and it won't help me. You may not feel like it, but I am getting some good shots. I promise you.
4. Don't Be a Perfectionist Planner.
I get it. Sometimes we can't help it. If you're a perfectionist, you're a perfectionist. And I know the dad's out there probably spent weeks, if not months, shopping for the perfect outfits for the entire family. They stressed about what colors would look well together. Should they do solids or patterns? Jacket? Sweater? Dress? Pants? Romper? Should I wear my hair loose or slick it back? Should we put the kids hair up or down? Pig tails? Pony tails?? Headband??? Bow?????? Just kidding you guys, I know it's the mom's that do all of that! (Shout out to the dad's that help out, though.) But seriously, it can be a lot. Not only all of the thought and money that goes into it, but the time as well. Time that could be better suited for say... sleeping. Because Lord knows y'all mamas really need some sleep. So Quit stressing over every tiny little thing. (I know that's easier said than done.) But remember from my last two points.. your child is probably going to eat grass and get muddy and pull her bow out, etc, etc, etc. So take a deep breath, perfectionists...because I guarantee you nothing will go the way you plan it.
5. Quit Telling them to Sit Still.
I've already touched on this point slightly, but I cannot stress this enough. I will never say it out loud to anyone because you are the parent and at the end of the day your rules go- but when I'm down on the ground, in the dirt, or lying in the middle of the road, feeling like I'm getting an amazing shot of them doing something funny or walking off or laughing or showing me something- then they hear mommy or daddy telling them to quit moving, quit laughing, quit being silly, but smile, don't move... you can literally see all of the emotion change in their face and body language- and my shot is now ruined. If you booked me to take 50 pictures of the same pose and fake smiles, then you've booked the wrong photographer. I want to capture who you are, who your children are. I want you to be able to look at your photos and see the way your child looked while they were exploring. I want you to be able to see their smile when mommy and daddy tickled them or laughed with them or played with them. I want you to be able to look at that picture of your child rolling around a pile of leaves and remember how adventurous they were. I want you to look back and not remember how stressed you were or how misbehaved they were- I can handle rowdy, I can handle messy, I can handle crying, and staring, and running. I want you to look back and say, "That was fun- that was worth it".
