People often ask me what’s my secret. How do I create my photographs? How do I come up with ideas? How do I get the children to cooperate?
Well the thing is… very often I don’t.
Often my most favourite photographs – the ones I proudly put in my portfolio, print on business cards and submit as part of features to different websites – happened by accident. Usually I’d have something in mind, but then my little (or big!) models will do something completely different to what I asked them to do, and THAT gets the picture.
So I decided to create a series of blog posts talking about how a particular favourite of mine came about.
Let’s start with this bright autumnal picture from a children’s portrait session in Richmond Park.
I love this picture. And I love the asymmetry of it. I love how it reflects the personality of the kids – loud, outgoing 3, and a shy little one. It just works on many levels for me.
But I’m not that clever. The thing is, it just… happened.
I was in Richmond Park, photographing the 3 siblings and their cousin. I had the vision of all of them lying on the grass, looking at me, laughing or being silly. Problem was, my youngest model (one in the pink wellies) refused to join in. I snapped away, just including her wellies, hoping eventually she’ll join us.
A ruined shot? I don’t think so!
Eventually I did convince her to join her cousins (by lying down myself first!) but the resulting picture just does not have as much impact.
Amazing photos are usually a combination of a lot of planning.. and a little luck! Its a great shot – I also love the asymmetry of it.
Amazing photos are usually a combination of a lot of planning.. and a little luck! Its a great shot – I also love the asymmetry of it.
Great photo and advice. It really doesn’t pay to try and bully your subjects into doing what you want. They won’t look comfortable and you won’t achieve the result you want anyway. The welly shot is fantastic. Breaking the ‘rules’ is what makes a picture stand out. And of course knowing all the rules helps too! Well done.
Great photo and advice. It really doesn’t pay to try and bully your subjects into doing what you want. They won’t look comfortable and you won’t achieve the result you want anyway. The welly shot is fantastic. Breaking the ‘rules’ is what makes a picture stand out. And of course knowing all the rules helps too! Well done.
That really is a great photo and one of my favourites too. Nice to hear the story behind it.
Brilliant!
Thanks for sharing Antonina! You’ve got a very good point, I also find I get the best shots when the children don’t do what they are told and misbehave a little bit in a playful way. It makes me think of this great quote about photography: “I think the best pictures are often on the edges of any situation, I don’t find photographing the situation nearly as interesting as photographing the edges.” ~William Albert Allard
The challenge though is to stop the parents from telling the child off and just take a back seat. It is critical for keeping the right mood for the kids during the session but I know as a parent I would also find it very hard not to intervene!