Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I’ve had people sharing with me how they find taking photos of their children … challenging.

And yes I must agree. Some kids are naturally camera shy. When these little ones realise that a camera is pointed at them, they’d run away, look away or come TOWARDS the camera. Some would cover their face with their hands too!

For my case however, I must say I’m blessed with kids who (so far!) are generally okay with the idea of being photographed (read: they’d smile towards the camera most of the time, though for Vai’s case he’d most likely make lots of silly faces too!)

[Left – Right : Noah, Nathan, Vai and Yuta]

Now. The challenge, I think, is doubled when it comes to taking photos of a GROUP of small kids!

Getting a decent photo of ALL of them looking at the camera (and we’re not even talking about them smiling away) is just plain HARD.

Say, in a group photo of four, three may look towards the camera, but one looks at his toy.

Or, if they’re all sitting down, one may somehow feel the urge to stand and walk away (err … or, cry).

And I usually end up taking AT LEAST five quick shots (while at the same time making all sorts of exaggerated noises and silly cheers to get the kids to look at the camera).

There’s this one general approach that ‘usually’ works though :

– Get the little kids to sit down against a wall (or a bench or a sofa, basically it’s good if you can have something behind their back so that they won’t lean back, etc)

– Get someone else (ie. NOT the photographer) to be the ‘joker’

– The photographer must be ready way before the kids are all seated down

– And as soon as ALL kids are seated, the joker then makes sudden (and different!) noises somewhere behind the photographer, eg. clapping hands, doing a silly dance, WHILE making a weird (yet loud enough) sound of a bird, hehe.

Or, it could be something like a toy that gives out a loud continuous squeak. Basically, strange loud noises work rather well!

Whatever it is, the kids may all look at the camera, at the same time, for only a second or two. And that’s your chance, before you need to do your various attention-grabbing tricks all over again.

[After six attempts, this is the most ‘decent’ shot of everyone that I managed to get, hehe]

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For my case, lots of the shots I took of Anya and Vai together were candid ones. Taken without going ‘one … two … three …’

But it’s not always the case.

If I set out to get shots of them with a specific ‘theme’ (like when I took the shots used on our Christmas card last December, and our Chinese New Year’s card last year), I usually make fun of myself BIG TIME! Haha. Really, you should’ve seen how our session went!

I made super silly faces, noises and moves, and played silly games of catch (and many others!) to get the kind of shot I want (eg. of them hugging each other and smiling naturally to the camera).

[As for that Chinese New Year’s card, we had quite a few ‘squashed’ oranges too as Vai kept tossing them to the floor!]

Yes, in most cases a whole lot of efforts is needed when it comes to taking photos of our little ones.

And sometimes, even after all that, we just make do with whatever shots we manage to capture at the time (read : of most of the kids looking everywhere else BUT the camera!)

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How about you and your experience in taking photos of little kids?