Please Don’t Bribe Your Children! {Memphis, TN~Children’s Portriats}

Posted on November 21, 2010

You are so excited!  You just booked a photo session with a great photographer.  Your head swims with ideas of how to dress the children.  And then the quiet panic sets in.

What if they don’t behave?  What if they don’t follow the photographer’s directions?  What if they cry the whole time?  What if they trade in their usual angelic disposition and become something from a nightmare?

So, you make a plan.  You will tell your children that “if they behave”, then… Chuck E. Cheese, new toy, favorite treat, whatever gets them going…

This eases your worries.  They’ll have that “carrot” dangling out in front as a reward for “good behavior”.  You begin to breathe again.

Please don’t!

I have worked with children in large settings and one-on-one for over 15 years.  I’ve seen it all.  All the bad attitudes, all the drama, all the manipulation, all the crying.

May I give you a word of advice as to how to prepare your child for a photo session with me?

Thank you.

:P

First of all, my advice is to you:  Be relaxed.  Children feed off of our moods.  So if you are calm and easy-going, most likely, they will be too.

Second:  Don’t be worried about me judging you and your parenting.  (I know how it is.  I’m a mom too.)  My job is not to judge you.  My job is to capture your child(ren) and family as they are.

Third:  Don’t make your children wear clothing they are not comfortable wearing.

Fourth:  (and here’s where we bring in the kids)  Prepare your children for the photo session by telling them about how much fun playing with me is going to be.  Let them know, that if they follow my directions, we are going to have so much fun.  I’m a goofy girl.  I make silly sounds, faces, and trip over myself.  I sing songs and do dances.

Your children will be at their best for their photos if they are “in the moment” and playing with me.

When you bribe them with an exciting something after the session, they will be looking forward to that instead of the photo session being the exciting adventure.  Let the photo session be the exciting fun thing they are doing that day!

Fifth:  Make sure your child(ren) are not coming to the session hungry or thirsty.  But please don’t (unless other arrangements are being made) bring food or candy or drinks along with you to the session.  Once they come into the child’s view, it’s hard to keep them out of the photos.

So really, my advice can be summed up with:

Relax

&

Don’t bribe

Simple.

You are trusting me to capture the moments of your life.  Trust me to be entertaining enough for you and your children to have a good time and lots of giggles and smiles.

Ok, just had to get that out there…

~Daisha





The Holidays are Coming…{Memphis, TN–Child & Family Portraits}

Posted on November 18, 2010

The weather!  The weather these days… One day it will be lovely and sunny and the light is perfect.  On those days I have no photo sessions.  But the next day, I do have a session scheduled.  And you know what weather we get for our session?

Rain!

But you know what?!  The family I photographed in the rain (and inside for a bit) on Saturday is so cute that it didn’t matter.  :)

And as it REALLY started to rain (instead of just mist) we went inside and I got these photos of this little guy who I’ve had the honor of photographing all year.  *** I’m loving watching him grow and change! ***

Can you handle how blue his eyes are?  He’s SO cute!!

That session was Saturday afternoon.  Sunday the weather was GORGEOUS.  And Monday I had another session.

20 min. before the session started, the mom called to ask if clouds were a good or bad thing for a natural light photographer. :)

I assured her that I’d still be able to get great images, there just wouldn’t be any sun-flare or star-bursts in our photos. :)

The cloud cover provided nice, even lighting and the girl’s lit up the photos.  And I could make up a full session of images out of our mini session!

ALSO…

Yesterday my printing company announced that they will now be carrying Luxe Cards.  I LOVE the way these look.

So, I designed two different cards last night with the photos from the girls mini session.



If any of my clients from this year are interested in me designing a custom Luxe Holiday card, e-mail (of facebook-message) me and we will start the ball rollin’ to get these to you at the beginning of December.

~Daisha





We’ve been waiting for this one… {Memphis, TN~Newborn Portraits}

Posted on November 12, 2010

We met this lovely family when the recently moved here from working in China.  Rachel was pregnant and hadn’t been seen by a doctor in months.  And, being new to town, finding a doctor took a community. :)

But last week, later than his family would’ve hoped, this little blessing made his debut.  And I got to photograph him and snuggle with him today!

***I have found that I LOVE newborn sessions.  I get to cuddle tiny little newborns, revel in their cuteness, and hand them back to their mothers.  It’s PERFECT!***

He was definitely worth the wait.  You can tell from the way his mother dotes on him to the way that his father proudly shows off his son to the neighbors.

Here’s the sneak peek at the newborn mini session:

(and this photo makes me wish I hadn’t been so obsessed about NOT being in front of the camera when I was a “newborn Mom”)

Congratulations, guys.  He’s perfect!

~Daisha