I recently have a lovely, albeit incredibly lively, session with 2 families of children for a long awaited portrait for their grandmother. I had already photographed one of the sets of children a couple of years ago and now they were back with their cousins. You may recognise the two boys from the portrait on the Union Flag beanbag.
I always knew that keeping these children sitting still for the required length of time (for me to achieve the perfection I am always looking for) was always going to be difficult. So I needed to act fast, something I'm not great at. To give myself a bit more time though, I thought I'd make it a little more fun for them by giving them boxes to climb, sit on and sit inside.
And then I rotated them in different spots as soon as the boredom began to set in. It also made it a little more difficult to escape.
It was a quick session taking just under an hour, but it was a very fast paced and busy session, something I'm not used to as I usually try to take my time. Time was never going to be on my side though with two 3 year olds and two 6 year olds. But in the end we got their and I'm thrilled with the results. I would like to point out though, that I am not complaining. This is how it is with most young children, particularly boys. They have a short attention span and sitting still for photos isn't exactly the sort of thing that is going to hold their attention.
Sometimes I like to add textures to my images, like the one below, to add another dimension to the portrait. I think it works well with this one given that I've used old suitcases as props for them to sit on. I'm sometimes torn between using textures and not and usually leave the final decision to my clients.
Well Grandma got her shot of the grandkids in the end which she ordered as a large framed print which I think looks absolutely stunning in my favourite frame. Below is just a quick image of 2 of the products ordered from this session. I love seeing the final work in frames.
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