Daniel & Gwenevere's Christmas Mini Session
My studio will be undergoing some very major renovations through the winter so I didn't open my books for studio work like I had planned to. I chose instead to offer my availability on demand to the folks of Barrhead and surrounding area, since there's quite a handful of extremely talented photographers already holding Christmas mini session dates in their studios and outdoors.
I picked an adorable backdrop I found on Kate Backdrop, and brought it home along with my old Christmas decor used in setups previously, and put together a little scene to do my own Christmas mini, since that seems to slip my mind every season (whoops!).
So without further ado, please enjoy some adorable moments with my children in their own mini session. I applied a
filmy touch to these images, let me know what you think!
Let me tell you what I did here!
Ohhhhh, my GOSH. These photos came out perfectly adorable - my kids are such champs when I am in creative mode. Now, would I do it again? Ermm, I'm gonna have to say probably not unless I figure out something easier and much less likely to end up in a huge tangled mess!!
Okay ANYWAY: what I did was, I shopped for some ornaments, a flat white rectangular piece of cardboard, some thumb tacks, and fishing line. One by one, I strung the ornaments at different lengths, tacking them to the cardboard. All in, I think I strung about 20 or so ornaments which I later realized was about 10 too many (the camera can only capture a certain width and length, beyond which I had attached more ornaments and didn't need to!
I then cut a circular hole the exact diameter of my lens, and very CAREFULLY slid the entire piece over the lens. Once I had the kids dressed and in place, I turned on my studio lights, shut off all my other lights, and carefully stood over top of them with my camera pointed down at them and the ornaments dangling between them and my camera - it gave an AWESOME dimension of depth to the images and made them all feel so magical!
The only downside is the mess when the ornaments start to swing around and get caught up in each other - the untangling is time-consuming and exhausting! Thankfully, I had taken all the photos I wanted to of my kids before I was done with the ornament set up, but I had every intention of reusing it, until the mess it turned into as I pulled it off my camera... Stay tuned to see if I do end up using it again anyway ha ha!
Whether you're a photographer viewing my work, or a potential client,
I want you to know that my kids are quite difficult at times to pose - but one thing I have learnt from working with families for over a decade now, that I feel is worth sharing: LET GO of all expectations of the kids involved in the session. Photographers: master your timing, your natural rhythm, and your ability to lead. Families, moms, dads, etc.: load your kids with love, offer them a share of your experience, and encourage them to laugh with you, to smile, and to remember how much you all love each other (tight hugs decompress the chest and help children to calm naturally! If that doesn't work, there's always the fool proof art of a sneaky tickle!). Photographers can't force your children to smile but if you trust them when they are leading you during your session through poses, prompts and jokes/silly moments, I assure you they will provide the best result possible in that moment.
In the worst possible scenario, move along to a different set and start over. Children 5 and under can freeze up under pressure, and even if you think there is no pressure for them to start with, the longer they are asked to remain in one spot, and look in one direction, the more the pressure really does build up for them - and soon you can end up with a crying, squabbling puddle in your hands. In short, the shorter the duration of your sets and poses for the younger children, the better. Keep it short and sweet and move on if necessary.
A hint of Christmas magic mixed with the classical "peek-a-boo" - a la gwenevere
merry christmas and good luck with your christmas mini sessions, from daniel and gwen!
Thanks for reading!!!
