A fun, energetic and vibrant family shoot from three gorgeous siblings from Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes, who came for family portrait photography today. Armed with their favourite teddy bears, this gave us a great start to the shoot for a game of ‘teddy has his photo taken’ to spark their interest and demystify the process.
Two year olds are always tricky customers, but with big sister Maya leading the way and a few distractions with a small arsenal of toys, we were soon getting the shots we had in mind. We had to work in short bursts as attention spans in this age group are quick to wane, but with gentle persistence we got there.
We’re the first to rave about the beauty of natural expressions and non smiley shots which is the ethos of our business – to capture a childs natural character, but we do try to get some more animated and smiling images as part of this range. This shoot was a reminder of how essential it is for parents to get involved as some children take longer to warm to us as strangers than others, and having mum or dad close by really speeds things up. No one can quite connect with a child and get them laughing as well as a parent.
The camera really loved Alex’s cheeky expression, Maya’s coy smile and Isla’s beautiful doll like features, especially her delicate eyelashes. Its the photographic skill in capturing the clarity of these details which really make a photo outstanding, rather than creating just another photo. This blog shows a pick of the different shots we achieved with each child. Pigtails, stray hair, plaits and windswept hair all add up to illustrate raw childhood beauty – children just don’t stay clean and ‘perfect’ for long! What it doesn’t show is the two of us sneaking a quick rest afterwards. We’re in awe of parents of two year old twins!
The siblings together shot was definitely a trickier beast. There’s only a brief window of opportunity for this photo with this age group as sitting still is not the preferred option for 3 bundles of energy. Don’t mind admitting we resorted to good old fashioned bribery in the end with a guest appearance from our family pet dog as a sweetener, and a snack from our Halloween treat tin. We got them all sitting together – success in our book no matter that they might be looking in different directions. Children are children and not still life objects so their interaction and looking naturally around is very real – that’s what makes the images believable and draw you in.
We thoroughly enjoyed this shoot. Mum was lovely to chat with and the children were superb – a real credit to her. With Halloween and Bonfire night excitement in the air it’s amazing that the children were able to focus briefly and work with us to achieve these stunning results. Thanks to mum for her patience and participation.