The Blog

Let’s talk posing – Mom here said she wanted casual, fun, loving pics – nothing too stuffy or posed.  We started with our classic move – asking the client to just walk down a path while holding hands, and then walk back towards the camera (works great for parents, families, and couples).  The trick is to remind them not to be too stiff, not to focus too much on looking straight ahead, but rather taking an opportunity to look towards each other or even back at the camera (we usually coach them through this, by giving verbal cues during their walk).  Next in this shoot, we moved to a park bench, which is a nice feature to use for bringing the child’s face closer to the same level as the parent.  Our little girl here didn’t want to smile for the camera at this point, but as soon as we asked her to give her mom and hug and a kiss, she lit up!  It was too cute.

This park is great because there’s a variety of places for shooting.  For the next series, we went to the pocket grove where there are tall grasses and wildflowers.  To ensure the kiddo remained comfortable and content, we allowed her to explore the area on her own a bit before laying a blanket down for mom and daughter to ‘pose’ for some shots sitting.  After a few minutes, and before kiddo could get too restless (they sure do like to move around at this age!), we asked the little one to get up and follow Lindsey to the side of the grove.  From there they came up with a “secret” plan to sneak up behind mom and give her a surprise hug and kiss.  This sneaking-up trick works well with many kiddos – as long as mom/dad don’t get too far out of sight at any time during the process.

Another super easy trick for smiles can works well?  A simple flower.  And once we gave this little one a flower she didn’t want to let it go!  No problem for us – I think it’s a nice extra ‘something’ in many of these shots.

Lastly, we moved to a tree stump – another great way to get the little one up, nearer the eye level of the parent.  Our little girl here was about tuckered out at this point, and was not so much interested in standing and posing with momma as she was with taking a seat on the stump and swinging her legs around a bit.  We took the moment to get some shots of just her alone – and invited mom to join me behind the camera to see if she could make her daughter laugh.  I didn’t see what she did back there – but whatever it was, it worked!  I love the genuine smiles!

Overall – we were very pleased with the shots from this mini-session.  The natural colors are beautiful, but I couldn’t resist applying a warm filter to just a few of the shots for some variety and softer feel.

We want to give a big thanks to the Aubry family for choosing Bouchet Images!