Vin Le Photography: 3 Things I Learned From My First Family Portrait Session with Kids

On Wednesday, April 1st, I was given the honor to take some family portraits for a beautiful family in Carlsbad, California (Yeah, that's outside of my zone of Huntington Beach / Orange County, but it's okay). It was a mom, a dad, and two adorable little girls. Three and four years old. She told me up front, "my kids are a little wild."

"Oh don't worry, it'll be fine!" I told her confidently.

Boy...was I wrong!

I've never dealt with kids before in a family portrait session. I should've realized that kids aren't going to just sit down and take pictures (especially at the beach!). They want to have fun! I think I broke every rule in the book when it comes to photographing kids. I didn't realize I broke these rules until AFTER I came home and Googled, "how to photograph kids." I still managed to capture some gems, but I really would've liked to have offered them a better experience.

Here are some key points that I've learned from reading a bunch of blogs/articles:

1) Become the Parent

Tell the mom and dad you got this (even if you might not). Tell them to BACK OFF! Okay, you don't have to be that intense about it. It'll keep them at ease. They won't be stressed out trying to control their kids. As a photographer, you're a part-time business owner, caretaker, entertainer, and friend. And probably so many other things all at once.

Basically, kindly tell mom and dad that you're going to take control of the situation and they don't need to do anything. Unless they feel their kid is in a position of getting hurt, they shouldn't be telling the kids to do anything.

2) Be the Kids' Friend

To continue on with the first point, be the kids' friend. Communicate with them. Hang out with them. Make them think photography sessions are fun. In order to get them to cooperate and have great, big, genuine smiles, be their friend and have fun! Let loose a little and play some games with them!

Get to know the kids. Ask them what they're favorite thing in the world is. Ask them what they're favorite show is. Ask them what their favorite ice cream is. Ask them what they're favorite anything is!

Huntington Beach Family Portrait Photographer

3) Let The Kids Play

This goes along a little bit with point 2. Let the kids play! Let them have fun! Some of the best shots are the ones where they're running around and having fun. They've got the biggest smiles when they're doing this!

Don't force them to sit down and say cheese. That's the worst thing you can do. When you tell them to sit down, they're going to want to pout. We don't want any pouty faces do we? We want big
smiles! When do they have big smiles? When they're running around having fun! Let them loose!

My Experience

Here's how these 3 points applied to my session and how I learned them:

1) I only took maybe 25% of the responsibility of dealing with the kids when it should've been 100%. This stressed out mom and dad because they had to deal with them! When mom and dad are stressed out, they're not happy and it reflects. When they're not happy, then the kids aren't happy. It's your duty as the photographer to deal with the kids during the session whether you think it is or not. When you deal with the kids, it makes mom and dad happy, which keeps the kids happy.

2) I barely talked to the kids. I tried a little, but I should've been so much more interactive with them. I should've let them play with my camera a little. Showed them a few shots and tell them how awesome they look in them (everybody likes praise right?). I should've asked them what they're favorite things were. I should've done so many other things, but I mainly focused on capturing that "right" moment that I was supposed to help create.

3) I kept trying to get them to stay in one spot and "just take one picture for me, okay?" No. Wrong. That's all wrong Vin. When I did this, they would sit down for MAYBE 2 seconds, then get right back up. If they did sit down for more than 2 seconds, they didn't look very happy. I should've let them play more. This is just the nature of kids. It's going to happen. I don't care what family you're with. Kids will be kids.

When they were playing in the sand having fun, that's when I got some of my favorite shots. That's when they began being cooperative when I said, "hey, look over here!" I mean, don't KEEP saying it, but every now and then when you want them to look at the camera, you can get their attention. But just let them roam! Let them be free! Let them be creative! Let them have fun!