First of all, let me tell mom what a great job she did dressing these two! I love the color combos and how she managed to coordinate them without being too “matchy”. Great job mom! Sometimes moms are reluctant to book family portraits because they have a kid who they feel will not cooperate, or in other words, will not smile for the camera. That’s ok! I have two responses to this concern:
Personally, I often love non-smiley photos better anyway. In fact, the non-existent smile can give the image more of a high end look and evoke a deeper emotional reaction than a forced one. So, there is that..The other thing is that this is who your child is at this moment. Even though you have your sights set on a perfect artistic photograph, it might actually be more meaningful to have an image that reflects who your child is right now, today. In fact, I have a little story about this very thing. My mom was pretty good about yearly family photos. One year, I must have been about thirteen, I got ready for our family portrait. This was a big one because we where going to Olan Mills instead of JC Penny like all the other years (LOL, anyone else remember Olan Mills?!). I come downstairs and my mom says “Aren’t you going to do your hair?” Well… my hair was “done” and this upset me deeply, mostly because I was thirteen and it didn’t take much to upset me. We get to the studio and I cannot for the life of me put a smile on my face. Sure enough, I look very angry in all the photos. My mom, of course, bought them anyway. 25 years later, that photo is still up on my mom’s wall and I laugh every time I see it.
Now, these good looking kids do not have that problem. He may not of given a ton of big ole’ smiles but he sure did give good faces, and best of all, they are AUTHENTIC! I believe in telling your family’s story, not the story of a cookie-cutter magazine photo (though I sure believe any of these could be in a magazine!).
