Yes, you read that right. Bring me those crazy kids! I thrive off of that energy during our sessions, and always have the best sessions when the kids let loose. This is why I hope your kids show up wild for our session.
I’m going to start by saying, that the girls for this beautiful family session were extremely well behaved and very happy. When I say the word ‘wild’, I really mean free. They were free to roam, explore, be themselves, and yell as loud as they wanted to. Ask any kid what they really want to do, and some variation of those things would be their answer.
When you bring your littles to our session, I’m sure you have a vision of how the session will go. I *hope* that your vision is similar to mine- a fun, carefree, relaxed session with dreamy light. But a lot of times, at the end of my sessions, parents tell me how relieved and surprised they are that it went so well because they were worried before hand that their kids wouldn’t listen or sit still. Heres the thing- I don’t want them to!
During all of my sessions with kids, I am mostly letting them run the show. If they want to run around like crazy, then I want to document them doing that. If they want to scream at the top of their lungs- perfect time for a photo. In between the bursts of chaos, there are always moments of sweetness- and I’m going to photograph the crap out of that too. (And by the way, I LIVE for the chaos. This post really goes into detail on embracing that.) By letting them be who they are, and act however they want (within reason of course- I’m not saying to let them beat me up or throw mud at me 😂 ), we are allowing them to feel happy and free. And when they feel like that, they relax into the session a little. I often make gentle suggestions for poses, and sometimes it works out. But sometimes it doesn’t! That’s okay. I’ll quickly move out of that if it isn’t working, and move onto the next activity.
I am not the type of photographer who needs perfection. I actually don’t want perfection at all. I want REAL.
I don’t know a single kid (or adult) who has a great time being told to sit still, smile, don’t move. Yes, having a family photo of you all together looking at the camera and smiling is nice, and I do do this for all of my sessions at the beginning. But after that one shot, I rarely revisit that type of shot during the session. Instead, the remainder of the session is a fun and relaxed time, and the very opposite of stiff. Just the way I like it! There are so many things that we can do during our session that feels like fun to them, while also being a photo worthy moment.
One more thing worth mentioning: bed time. I shoot most of my sessions at golden hour, which is about an hour/hour and a half before sunset (or just after sunrise for you brave morning people 👀 ). In the summer time, that can be pretty late. Having two toddlers, I know how important a bed time routine is. I can promise you that doing your session at that time is going to be much prettier than doing your session earlier in the day. Stick with the golden hour! Give them a later nap during the day, or let them sleep in later that day (I’m loling as I write this, because wtf is sleeping in). One day will not derail the rest of the days, and it will be sooo worth it to have them up a little bit later, in exchange for beautiful images. I’m telling you- good light makes a HUGE difference in a session.
So to sum it all up- no need to calm the kids. I want them active and playful for our session. Most importantly, I want you all to have fun, and if I can take any stress away from you, I want it to be taking the nerves out of your expectations for the session. It’s going to be amazing. Your kids will be so happy. You’re going to have fun together and feel connected with your family. Boom. Perfect session in 4-5 long paragraphs.
