Me: Hey B, I made you this super cool robot shirt for you! Do you mind if I take a few photos of you in before you go and play?

B: Okay, mom.

That’s how the conversation began.  I wanted to take some pictures of him actually wearing the shirt to show on the Silhouette blog. So we get to the park…find a cool tree…set up the camera. I tell him okay I’m just going to take some pictures just act normal ( he is 4 by the way).

I get this:

then this…

I try and give him a little direction…

“Hey B…Could you give me a smile?’

Ohhhh that’s not going to work. O.k. Um just act natural.

Seeing that I am not getting anywhere with this forced photo shoot I decide to shoot another day. Things like “ehhh I don’t REALLY need a picture of him in the shirt’ are starting to run through my head.

Go play I told him.

While he was playing guess what…I captured my shot.

In my hurry-up-lets-just-get-one-picture pace I forgot my number one rule about photographing kids.

Let them play.

                      Hands down, the best photos I get of my kids are while they are playing and being natural. Don’t be afraid they may get dirty. Let them. See that crisp white shirt. It had about 10 grass stains on it by the time this photo was taken. But he was happy and that is why I love that picture. Those stains can always be edited out.

  play with them.

They don’t even realize I am shooting because usually I am right there playing with them with the camera around my neck (I’m pretty sure they think this is normal now).  I am not just standing there snapping away. I am on the ground (sometimes even laying) to get that shot. Get down to their level and experience the world at their eye level.

Snap Away.

I set my camera on continuous and I rapid fire shoot. I have found if I just take one photo at a time I might miss something special. I may actually use one or two photos out of the 30 or so I took but those 2 photos are what it is all about.

All these pictures were taken while playing.

    So next time you want to do a shoot with your 4 year old – don’t make them pose…just tell them to go play.

BTW…If you are curious about that little robot shirt it is featured over on the Silhouette Blog this week! I would love for you to stop by and take a peek. It was my first time using stencil vinyl and fabric paint!! You can read it here: Personalized Robot Shirt

Have a great holiday everyone!! I will be in the kitchen today getting some early cooking done!