One of my initail motivations for pursuing photography, was so that I could take better photos of my own kids. This worked very nicely for the first couple years of my daughters life, but as soon as Debbie turned two she suddenly became
very difficult to photograph. She just doesn't like it. Not usually - and especially not if her mother was behind the camera!
Much to her grandparents dismay, most of Debbie's pictures from the past year are of her looking the other away - or simply giving me that blank, smile-less stare. As if to say, "Okay mom, I'm looking at the camera - but I'm not going to like it."
Yesterday I tried to sit Debbie down for a quick little session in front of the living room window. The lighting was just perfect, and as I saw the way it lit up her blond hair I knew I had to capture the moment.
Only moments before I took this picture, Debbie was perfectly happy reading books and re-arranging the furniture. But the moment I tried to get her to sit still, this is the look she gave me:
[caption id="attachment_2078" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Seriously, how heart-wrenching is that? I just want to take her picture, not her reason for existence."]
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Apparently she was not going to make it easy for me. Now I had to really work it.
Tickles, funny faces and peek-a-boo proceeded. But it was her personal favorite that tipped the scale. You see, the one sure way to make Debbie laugh, is to..
wait for it...make scary growling dinosaur noises!
Girly, huh?
After a few growls (and reciprocating squeals), she gave me this:
But as soon as I took the shot she must have thought: "Uh, oh, mom got me laughing! I'd better compose myself quick!"
This is OK though. This look is so Debbie that it truly deserves to be captured. Smiling is not always important - as long as you catch that gleam in their eye!
A couple tickles later, I got the look I really wanted.
[caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="467" caption="Ta-da!"]
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Whew! That was a 10 minute work out right there.
As soon as I took this photo she was
done, and on her merry way she went.
(As a side note, I am continually amazed at how exuberant, emotional and particular an almost-3-year-old can be!!! Where does this come from anyway??! - Oh. Right...)And that my friends, is what it's like to be a photographer, photographing one's own children. Not as easy as you might have thought, eh? :-)
