As I’ve said in the past, a child usually reaches the magic age of reason at 4 years of age. That means you can bribe them, as in, “I have a toy/treat for you when we’re done”. With children younger than 4, a photography session can be hit or miss: a 3 year old is totally egocentric and does exactly what HE/SHE wants to do…. or not do! A younger child also has a smaller attention span, and all of my stupid puppet tricks, songs, and silly shenanigans fail to impress after about 10 minutes. (Did I also mention that, with very young children, the photographer has to be a good sport about losing a large quotient of dignity?)  Ya gotta get the shot FAST. I always ask the parents to rate the shots they want taken in order of importance so that, hopefully, we capture the most important grouping before the magic wears off.

Jake was truly as good as gold for a 3 year old boy. I had his complete attention and cooperation for the full 10 minutes. Then, the comedian in him came out, and he discovered that he could make funny faces, put his head down, or put his hands over his face. Hey – he wasn’t crying or misbehaving, but he was getting the attention that 3 year old boys love!

Now that we are doing slideshow presentations for the first viewing, I’ve discovered that the “blooper shots” add much interest to the slideshows! They certainly aren’t what the parents will choose as their wall portrait or Christmas card, but the slideshows are alot more fun!

Here are some perfect examples of photographs suitable for a framed wall portrait, and some funny ones to add some spice to the slideshow…..