What parent hasn’t been embarrassed by their child? But do we think about how many times we embarrass our child? A common way is to say something about them to other people in front of them.
One of the oldest jokes in children’s photography business is the mother who brings in their child and says: “I hope you can do something with him. Whenever he gets his picture taken he screws up his face and— Look! He’s doing it again!”
This is not unique to parent-child relationships. Well meant, but poorly considered comments can be made by anyone about anyone. “Now, Honey, don’t mess these up like you did last time.” This might be funny to the spouse to whom it was directed or it might not be. As photographers, the best thing we can do is smoothly and quickly change the subject and move on. Remember the person who just spoke may be embarrassed, too.
Yes, you should let the photographer know what you want. That may need to include what has gone wrong in the past, but be sensitive to the people you are talking about if they are present. If you commit a faux pas such as the above examples, allow the photographer to move on without increasing the discomfort of the family member. And, a photographer should never dwell on it. You can’t unring that bell. You can steer the conversation to something more comfortable for the embarrassed party or parties, which may be everybody.
Remember. Good relaxed expressions come from relaxed people. Even if you are dealing with paid models, they are people. Be sensitive to their feelings, even if they are not in the pictures.
The images featured with this post have nothing to do with the above post, except they are a good example of a relaxed subject. This was three shots taken on one of our one pose preschool programs.
Is she also cute? Of course. I only photograph good looking and well behaved children.