Just a very quick post….

I’m often asked for tips on how to capture kids in a natural way.

“How do I get my kids to pay attention?”

“How do I get them to smile naturally without saying cheese?”

It doesn’t have to do with how expensive the camera equipment is. Or how you edit a photo in photoshop. It is all in your actions as the photographer. And if you ask a lot of the parents that I photograph for they would probably say something along the lines of, “YOU ACT LIKE AN ABSOLUTE FOOL AND NEVER THINK TWICE!” haha Okay they may not say THAT but I bet they would agree.

This post also goes hand in hand with, “my son/daughter is very hard to capture so good luck.”  All kids are different! You have to change your style up from kid to kid. Sometimes you only have to say their name to get them to look but other children you have to go above and beyond and act as if you’re a kid yourself. Which is NOT hard for me at all.

Here is Ronin, he rocks! He is the kid that will make you WORK for a picture! I LOVE kids like him!
He had found a stick around our area and wanted to hold on to it during photos, completely fine. But that darn stick was then a wand, a symphony baton and at one point I think a sword. The wand, baton and sword were making it hard for me to get Ronin’s eyes looking at me & Mark (aka camera).

Then the stick broke the moment he bent it across his legs (see above)… so I put one half in my mouth and barked like a dog….

It’s always worth it.

Well this is the update that everyone has been waiting for!!!!!

The giveaway is…drum roll please…

A 2010 *new* simple session and a press printed 10×10 hardcover custom photo book

The giveaway has now been moved to Thursday, October 15th! It will begin at 5 a.m. and end at 11 p.m. If you would like to be in the giveaway you must leave your first and last name in a comment on the giveaway post (NOT THIS ONE!) which will be posted at exactly 5 a.m. on Thursday . By the way the comment box is right above this post but below the “topic” line….right hand side….see it?

I will then take all the names and put them into random.org for my one time draw and it will randomly (weird I know) choose from the list of names. VERY exciting!!!!! A gift card will be given to the winner and must be used within a year from Oct. 15th. The winner must be able to meet my easy to live with policies. If you want to see my policies before you comment on Thursday, just contact me and I will email them to you.
I know there will for sure be some questions about the giveaway and I would LOVE to answer them. I will list, what I think will be asked, below and if there are other questions please comment on this post  and I hope to get to them before the giveaway!
Here are some questions:
*How long is the session? 90 minutes at the least

*How many pages will the book have? 10 pages (not including cover and back)

*Can we choose our own photos for the book? I will ask for your top 10 favorite photos so that I can put them into prime spots. I like to choose where a lot of the photos go so that the book makes sense and kind of tells a story….your story.

*Do I get to choose when my session takes places: You sure do! You have a year to use it and we will work together on a date that works for both of our families.

*Can I fix the giveaway? ABSOLUTELY not! I can’t even fix the giveaway! I paid random.org to choose someone for me, so this is a very fair giveaway!

I hope this all made sense! I am of course open to any and many questions! Just leave it on this post instead of emailing it to me because your question might have already been asked.

xoxo - Melinda Ann