I have a soft spot for little boys. It might be because I am now the mother of three of them and God is teaching me so much about them. When this mother contacted me about doing a family session and she said she had a 4 year old son-I knew that I had to find someway to connect with this child if I was ever going to get him to open up to me and show me his real smile. A photo shoot is a kind of intimate thing. You are trying to get people to relax and smile as if they are looking at their best friend and it's the happiest day of their lives. I have learned that the only way to get the really good shots is to try and connect somehow so they are no longer intimidated by the huge, black camera in their face-to where they almost forget you are there and start thinking that they are spending the day at the park with their family. I asked her what kind of things her son liked. When she told me that Spiderman was on the top of the list-I knew, I could do Spiderman. I have a few Peter Parker's running around my house too! I looked everywhere trying to find some Spiderman stickers to bring with me to the shoot, but they never turned up.
When they got to the shoot I was waiting for them. I always try and get to a place early so that I can scope everything out and find the best settings for my camera. You can take pictures at the same place over and over again, but when it's outside, it can look different every time. When their son got out of the car, he shyly hid behind his dad. I have found that is the natural reaction to some strange lady smiling and holding a big black box in her hand. By the end of the shoot, he was holding my hand and walking with me to get props out of my car! He was cracking me up. Whenever I needed to get him to wipe the fake smile off his face, I would shout out "Hey Spiderman!" and he started saying, "Peter Parker! Cheese! Peter Parker! Cheese!" It was hilarious! I had a really fun time with this family! I hope I get to see them again in the future!
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