When Your Kids Won’t Say “Cheese”

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Does your child suffer from Photographer’s Child Syndrome?  Do they run as soon as they see your camera come out?  Brennan Lanter has some great tips for how to photograph uncooperative kids.

When Your Kids Won’t Say “Cheese”:
7 Tips for Creating a Style with Uncooperative Children

by Brennan Lanter

“Nooooo more pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!”

If your kids are anything like mine and flat out refuse to convey any happy emotion while your camera is in hand, take heart!  I’ve tried every trick in the book to get my kids to look at me and smile, but they only seemed to resent me more with each passing click. So, I have used these limitations to carve out an approach to childhood photography that is not dependent upon willing subjects!  I now seek out themes of solitude, curiosity, reflection and contrast in my work instead of begging for my kids to say “cheese.”

Here are a few tips on how I grew my artistic portfolio with uncooperative children as my subjects!

1. Divide and Conquer.  If you have multiple children, shoot them separately. A single figure in an image can enhance the feeling of solidarity, reflection and stillness.
   
2. Wait for the quiet. This may sound impossible, but there are a multitude of quiet moments in the day with children if you are looking for them. The most obvious is when they are sleeping! But beyond slumber, there a lot of peaceful moments to be found. One trick I use is to let them run around and be crazy once they have worn themselves out-you’ll find they are ready to rest for a few minutes and that is your opportunity!
   
3. Use their curiosity to your advantage.  My children are fully engaged and focused when they are learning or playing with something of great interest to them. They seem to get lost in that little world and totally ignore the camera—which is what I want. I am no longer interested in that direct eye contact-I want to see the curiosity. It is my favorite of all childhood themes to capture.
   
   
4. Little Child, Big World.  I love working with contrast in all forms. One of the biggest contrasts I see with children is just how little they are in this big, big world.  I use a generous amount of negative space in my images to convey that feeling to the viewer.
   
5. Details. They are such an effective way of telling the stories of childhood. I love getting detailed shots of them playing with their favorite toys.
   
6. Faceless.  There is a universal quality about anonymous photographs. Like details, these photos help to tell the story with very little, if any, cooperation from the subject.
   
7. Embrace what is. Bring out your camera and just capture what you get. Don’t wait for a moment of curiosity or quiet or joy—take what you get. These are still important and very real parts of life and childhood.
   

At the end of the day, what has driven my style is the fact that I don’t want to hand over to my children a beautiful portfolio of images and ugly memories of how they were captured. I have really come to enjoy capturing these often overlooked moments of childhood and know that without the limitations, I might have missed them.  Meaningful photographs don’t always begin and end with “cheese!”

Brennan Lanter

Brennan Lanter is a natural light photographer based in Chesapeake, VA. She spends her days with her 3 “littles” searching for the mundane moments she can make extraordinary through her lens(es!) When she’s not behind the camera, she considers a trip to Target alone a major thrill!

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Categorized in: Families & Children, Guest Bloggers, Portraits, Tips & Tricks