Introduction
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
—Dorothy Parker
A few years ago I stood in front of a group of incredibly talented photographers from all over the world. We were attending a workshop taught by two famous New York photographers whose work regularly appears in Vanity Fair and Vogue, and in the windows of stores like The Gap. All the students were required to share ten of their favorite images with the group and instructors. In the middle of my presentation, Mr. Vanity Fair Photographer interrupted me and said, “Well, I have to hand it to you; I could never shoot kids.”
Those of us who have chosen to specialize in photographing kids may be a little bit crazy. If you have kids of your own, it makes sense that you’d want to have some photos of them. But what about those of us who like to photograph children who are not our own? We’ve made a career out of making crazy faces, rolling on the floor, and snorting like a pig just to elicit some expression from a grumpy toddler. Isn’t there an easier way to make a living?
Maybe we still haven’t grown up and just like to be with “our people.” Maybe it’s the trend in your area to be a child photographer, and why not? All you have to do is buy a good camera and Photoshop, right? Or perhaps you appreciate how surprising and magical it can be to spend time making images of young subjects who haven’t had a chance to develop their social mask yet—to capture the openness and wonder of being a kid.
This book is for those photographers who want to be better than they are right now. It’s for photographers who have mastered the challenges of natural light and want to dip their toe into the scary world of studio lighting. It’s also for photographers who were born curious and want to continually learn and improve their craft and how they relate to their subjects.
At last count there were roughly a zillion books on the market that explore the techniques of photography. Most of them illustrate those techniques with photos of leggy models, professional athletes, or grungy guitar players—all, presumably, well-behaved adults who can sit still and take direction. I love those books and the techniques they share, but how am I supposed to light a toddler hyped up on sugar with a beauty dish? How the heck do you achieve a 3:1 lighting ratio when you can’t even get the kid to stay in one place, let alone look at the camera? And it’s not just the kids who present the challenge. I doubt that the leggy supermodel’s mom is standing behind the photographer coaching her to “smile honey!”
So, rather than one more book full of general lighting tips and techniques, this book focuses specifically on lighting, photographing, and interacting with kids. The goal is to capture something real about that child.
You’ll learn off-camera lighting techniques for both studio and location work, that you don’t need a truck full of lights to create interesting portraits, and that much of the time just one light will do the trick.
You’ll discover methods that will give you the confidence to deal with challenging kids and challenging parents—methods that I use every day in my photography studio to manage expectations and get the shot I want.
You’ll learn my tried-and-true (and slightly weird) tricks for getting authentic expressions from my subjects, and you’ll pick up practical tips on how to style, pose, and direct every shoot. Every technique and every tip in this book has been included with the sole purpose of arming you with the means to create beautifully lit, meaningful imagery of children.
What you won’t find in this book are complicated diagrams and ratios. There’s not a lot of math here. You’ll also notice an astonishing lack of Photoshop instruction. Scott Kelby wrote the book(s) on Adobe Photo-shop; go read them.
I wrote this book to encourage other brave souls who are on the path to the insanity and joy that is photographing children. I want to motivate you to channel the artist inside and re-envision how you approach the children you photograph. I want to inspire you to learn new techniques or refine those you already know. Push beyond the ordinary and the safe. In the process you’ll make some big mistakes, but in the end you’ll make your best images ever.