Total chaos photo session

[Lisa Brazell Cook]

On Saturday, I went to a client's house to take the first round of reference photos of her children ages 2 and 5. Well, they did not listen to me or her, so I basically chased them around for 30 minutes. I actually got some good shots of nice expressions, but will really have to do some major work to come up with a cohesive composition. I will probably pass on doing another session as it will probably just be a waste of time.

Does this happen to anyone else? What do you do? Should I sign up for a class in photoshop?

Luckily, the kids are very, very cute....
Lisa

[Michele Rushworth]

I would probably pass on this commission altogether unless the mom is willing to let you create two separate paintings. The likelihood of being able to combine reference that will have been shot from different angles and with the light coming from different directions is pretty much slim to none.

[Julie Deane]

Hi Lisa -

I have been learning a few lessons, after I went to do a photo shoot, and the lighting was poor, the child was hungry and tired, and not dressed appropriately, and his older brother kept wanting to butt in.

Turned out the mom really had her own picture she wanted me to work from, so she had not prepared for me at all.

What I have learned -

1. It's very important to discuss the physical layout, and, if possible see it ahead of time to control surprises. Or set up my own layout and have them come to it. In some childrens' cases, I think it would result in better behavior.

2. Discuss clothing choices.

3. Before even discussing these things, first send the client a procedures list so they will know what to expect.

I seem to learn things the hard way. The more professionally I treat this process and the most respect I ask for, the more cooperation I will get.

[Mike McCarty]

Chasing kids around a house is a little like the dog that chases the bus. What does he think he's going to do when he catches it?

Whether doing this at your house, their house, or at the mall, your mission is to find the best light (or spot to set up your light equipment) and bring the subject into that light. Ha, you say. But they won't stop running around!

What I do is get my equipment set up where I need it to be and then I declare that we are ready and this is where I need your kids to sit. Then I sit behind my camera. Generally, one of two things will happen. Either the parent will continue to make excuses about how the darlings are just trying to work off the effects of all those twinkies that the ex-husband fed them, or, the kids will be brought to you.

It's a battle of wills. The parent hasn't a clue as to what you need. They are perfectly willing to watch you chase their kids around the house, it looks perfectly natural to them. This transfers the burden from them to you. What you end up with is a lot of pictures of kids mugging in bad light and a lot of futile editing of poor reference material.

I say hold your ground and stare back at them from behind your camera. If the burden remains on the parent they will more than likely take control. Then, after about 30 minutes or so of mutual stare downs, I usually cave and start chasing them around the house. What can I say.

I have to tell this story. When I was about 8-10 years old I would walk to and from school (up hill both ways). Most days, as I walked home, the ice cream truck (the one that puttered along playing "Oh Suzanna" on the loud speaker) would be cruising the neighborhood. On this particular day I decided that I would run behind the truck, jump on the back bumper, and wave to my friends as the ice cream man unknowingly drove me home.

As I was running about half speed, and just within reach of the truck, he slammed on the brakes and I slammed in to the back of the truck. I came to in the middle of the street and saw the truck about a block away still playing "oh don't you cry for me." I never told my mom thinking that I would get into real trouble for denting the back of that man's truck with my head.

[Mary Sparrow]

Lisa,
I agree with Michelle on this one. Since you did get some nice shots of them individually, I would explain to the mother that she would end up with a portrait less than perfect if you tried to merge the pictures, and that you think two individual ones would be much better. She was there, she saw what you went through. Explain that you either need to do two separate portraits based on what you have or have another shoot to try to capture a great reference of the two of them together then leave it up to her.

Good luck, I pretty much only paint children so I definitely know what you are dealing with.

[Marvin Mattelson]

If you reshoot, pick a time when the children are not tired or hungry or just returning from any physically invigorating activity. Ask the Mom what time of day or which day of the week would be the best in this regard. Make sure they haven't recently been fed anything containing sugar. Set up or choose your lighting in advance of calling in the children to pose. Use the mother or a stand-in for this purpose. Each time you return to photograph the children they'ill get more used to you and be less apt to be overstimulated. It make take several reshoots. Once you get a composition you like, you can return and shoot each child separately for refinement, assuming they're not intertwined physically. If you want to bag the big game you need to be patient. And definitely learn photoshop. All of the above worked for me in the portrait I did of Andrew and Dusty.

[Chris Saper]

Dear Lisa,

Yes, it is worth your time to reshoot! And yes, this happens to me often with 2 year olds. They're two! There are some days that young children just aren't in the mood, and you can't reason with them. (They're two!)

Here's a thought. Let the mother know that you are painting portraits that will be heirlooms. As such, each child will want to have his own painting to take to his home as an adult, and when painted together this just can't happen. You can paint separate portraits that are designed to hang well next to each other, together, yet are still separate. If these kids are fueling each other, you might set up two separate photo sessions, where only one child is present. Be sure you work around their nap,meal etc., schedules.

Good luck,

[Mike McCarty]

I once had to photograph a two year old with her grandmother. I asked in advance (out of town) if they could have some other person there to assist me. The person ended up being the child's babysitter.

The trouble I had was that the child kept wanting to cling to the babysitter and would not interact with the grandmother. I decided that the babysitter had to go and ask that she leave. After a short while of adjustment the baby settled down with the grandmother.

Also, I think it is more difficult with people that know you well. I would much rather deal with strangers.

[Tom Edgerton]

There's a lot of good advice here already, but here are my suggestions also:

Tell the parent(s) of the pitfalls in advance. Let them know that expecting two- or three-year olds to cooperate and pose is a long shot. They need to tailor their expectations realistically to the childrens' ages. You can't MAKE something happen if it isn't likely. You can only pray and catch it if it does.

Make the parents give you all day, and be there for you. You can't be scheduled for 45 minutes between Komputer Kamp and Tadpole Swim at the Y and be expected to get anything. That way, if it's not happening, you can try again later in the day. Small children can only hang in there for short bursts. And Marvin's DEAD ON about the sugar thing.

Take someone with you to baby wrangle, if possible. If they have the kids plus a couple of adults, and all you have is you, you're outnumbered from the beginning. You need someone from your team on YOUR side.

Have a couple of ideas re: composition in your head in advance, but be prepared to scrap these and go with the flow. If they insist that they want a group setup, photo the children as early in the session as possible together without trying to control expressions too much, and then have all but one taken out of the room and work with them individually to back up and reinforce what you saw in the group--this is where you try and get the ideal expressions. You will probably never get a good expression from all the kids in one shot, so you're still going to have to assemble the composition from a number of shots.

Try and feel if the kids are "acting out" with the parents. If you think this is happening, have the adults leave but casually "orbit" in another area. Sometimes, believe it or not, they do better one-on-one with you. In other words, see whether the children are better with or without the adults there. Once I had a mother flying around the room, jamming prop toys in the kid's hands and generally freaking her out, so I sent her to get me a glass of water. I followed her into the kitchen, and diplomatically said that we seemed to be doing fine, just the two of us, so could we try it that way. When I returned, the child instantly became calm and serene, and very cooperative for her age with just me there--it was so much more intimate. In a later shoot, however, she wouldn't give me jack, so we just quit trying for that day.

In short, go in with your radar out, and be alert for the unexpected solution.

But I also agree with Mike's tactic that if someone is supposed to make them behave, your position is that it's the parents and not you. If they can't, how are you supposed to? It's not the kid's birthday, and you're not Chuckles the Clown.

Love to everybody, everywhere, especially to artists--TE

[Linda Brandon]

I'm really enjoying this thread, though I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned Dimetapp.

How about bringing along a bag of props: toys, blocks, books, things with removable parts, anything that if thrown at you wouldn't hurt much? I have used those plastic easter eggs with little toys inside (not jelly beans) - kids like to open them up. Or dress-up clothes? (This last one will work if your client can think outside the box.) I personally like small child portraits where the child's attention is focused on something other than the camera.