1. Start with the Kid
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Stranger: That’s a beautiful child you have there.
Mother: That’s nothing, you should see his photograph.
—Anonymous
It makes sense that a book about photographing children would “start with the kid,” but how many photos of children have you seen that center around anything but the kid? Instead, many images center around a grungy environment, a couch in a field, or a tutu the size of Montana. All of these elements may be trendy and fun, but what do they have to do with the child you’re photographing?
In this chapter, I want to challenge you to more carefully consider how you approach the children you photograph. I encourage you to take the time to go deeper in your thought processes and contemplate how you work and how your work could be more personal, more interesting, more thought provoking, more humorous, and more real.
Snapshots vs. Portraits
It’s not enough to just capture a faithful representation of a child. Any old snapshot can do that. A snapshot conveys the specifics of who, what, when, and where. A portrait, on the other hand, communicates something more universal about the subject. To illustrate this point, consider the photo in FIGURE 1.1, which shows a little girl with her parents on their front porch. For those who know this family, the image says, the Giles family on their front porch. The mom will love this photo, and Grandma will love this photo too. But although part of our job as photographers is to capture a straightforward shot of our clients, isn’t there more to the art of photography than this? Instead of just snapping a shot of a specific child, could you portray the child in a way that would have meaning for or evoke emotion in someone who didn’t know that child? It is that very quality that separates a snapshot from a portrait.
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FIGURE 1.1 A snapshot of a girl and her parents—normal yet boring. You can do better than this.
Evoking viewers’ emotions calls for a more thoughtful approach than snapping the obvious shot. You have to start with the kid. Who is she? What do you know about her? How can you portray that information in the two-dimensional medium of photography? Once you’ve gathered that information, you can bring all your technical expertise to bear, marrying your photographic tools with your unique portrayal of the child.
The little girl in Figure 1.1 is an only child, and the family’s life revolves around her. She is the cute yet benevolent dictator of her family. In FIGURE 1.2 you see the same little girl, the same parents, and the same front porch, but instead of being a shot that only close family would respond to, this image speaks to a larger audience and explores more universal themes, such as the love between family and a little girl who is the center of her parents’ world. The fact that the parents are looking at each other as though thinking, oh hi, I recognize you! represents a familiar feeling most parents share during the early years of high-intensity parenting. It’s a portrait, not a snapshot.
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FIGURE 1.2 A portrait of the same little girl and her parents, but this image communicates more than the sum of its parts.
Evoke a feeling or emotion in the viewer.
Clarify Your Intention
As a photographer, you may find your job is different than you think. When asked, “What is your intention as a photographer?” the answers are as many and as different as the photographers: “To pursue my passion.” “To make money.” “To express myself.” “To be famous.” These may be the eventual results of the correct intention, which is to evoke a feeling or emotion in the viewer, whether the viewer knows the subject in the image or not. What creates that feeling or emotion is often the viewer responding to something universal about that image—a recognition of something real that feels tied to a common human experience.
The best way to explain it is that a poignant image calls up themes in your mind versus specifics. So, rather than just looking at a typical photo of Emily, Olivia, and Sarah at tennis lessons (FIGURE 1.3), you smile at FIGURE 1.4 because more universal themes come to your mind, such as friends, women-in-training, secrets, and so on. There is more than one way to read this image.
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FIGURE 1.3 Cute girls at a tennis lesson. This is the shot that mom or dad might line up and take.
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FIGURE 1.4 Challenging yourself to inject a storytelling element results in images that have a broader appeal and say something more than just who is in the shot.
Beyond the Obvious
Is it possible to capture a straightforward image where the child is aware of the camera and have it read as more than a snapshot? Of course it is, and that’s where the technical expertise comes into play in addition to your understanding of the child you are photographing. You select all the elements and portray the child in an authentic way. You decide on the lighting, your camera angle, the pose, and the direction you’ll give. Then ask yourself what you want to convey about this child. Do you want to show off that sweet boy and his cherub face, or his obsession with his favorite toys of the moment (FIGURE 1.5)? It takes more time and more thought to carefully consider every child, but your images will show the care and contemplation you put into your process.
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FIGURE 1.5 Allowing the child to bring his favorite things informs a more authentic portrait.
The Real Kid
Years ago I had a client named Debbie who hired me to photograph her two little girls. At the time, one was four years old and the other was six. Debbie shopped and shopped for the perfect clothes, and on photo-shoot day the girls arrived in immaculate white dresses with their hair pulled up in tight, perfectly coiffed pigtails and their faces scrubbed clean. Cute photos were captured, and everyone was happy.
A week later, Debbie arrived with her girls in tow to look at her proofs. The oldest girl was dressed in popsicle-stained overalls with a tutu on top, had iPod earbuds stuck in her ears, and was rocking her mom’s sunglasses. The little sister had painted her own nails (and most of her fingers) that morning, and her ponytails were uneven and messy on her head. She clutched a collection of Barbies while trying to keep a sparkly purse that had seen better days from falling off her little shoulder. Debbie apologized for how messy they looked; she hadn’t had time to get them ready that morning. I was devastated and whined, “Why didn’t you bring them like this for the photo shoot?”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Debbie said. “This is what they always look like unless I get them dressed up!”
I never put the camera away until my client has left the parking lot.
I knew then what all mothers of older children know: Someday those girls would outgrow their Barbies and dress-ups, and they’d be demanding the car keys. On the wall of their home would be a nice, cute portrait of them together at four and six in little white dresses. Nice. Cute. Boring. This was not what I wanted to do. And that’s when I realized that my true passion was photographing what was real about kids. Good, bad, or ugly, if it’s true, then that’s what I want to portray.
Consider the nice, sweet portrait of the little girl in FIGURE 1.6. Like the young girls in my preceding story, she is well dressed and ready to pose for me. Compare that image with FIGURE 1.7, the last photo from her photo shoot. This photo was taken after she had changed her clothes to go home. She put on two skirts (because one is just not enough) and her Ugg boots, and then grabbed her mom’s old purse (now hers) and her personal Ray-Bans. At this point she had already drooled a little sucker juice onto her tank top and was ready to leave.
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FIGURE 1.6 A sweet, but expected, portrait of a darling little girl.
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FIGURE 1.7 Keep your camera out and your eyes on the lookout, especially at the end of the shoot. Getting dressed to leave the shoot this little girl made up her own outfit and accessory combo that was 100% her.
But I’ve learned a very important lesson; I never put the camera away until my client has left the parking lot. I brought her back on set for one or two more quick shots and turned on the fan. This image hangs as a 60-foot canvas in my office to remind me to challenge myself and never stop looking for the 100% kid.