Portfolio 10 of 80

There are times when you just have to take control and it is usually when photographing children.

The parents had got Jack and Sam looking great with new haircuts, nice, clean white clothes and had explained to them what we would be doing.

They had asked that the pictures be taken in the main bedroom upstairs as the light was good and it was a decent sized room and so we started to shoot.

I had set up one studio light with a large softbox attached. This would easily give enough diffused light to deal with the subject and space that we were in.

The parents and a friend or two were in the room with us and it soon became clear that the children didn't feel comfortable. Whether it was too much pressure on them having Mum and Dad in the room looking on or if they felt they couldn't be themselves I don't know...so I kicked Mum and Dad out of the room.

Immediately Jack and Sam "kicked off" and started just being themselves. They are great kids and loved bouncing on the bed and generally, well, being kids! I asked them both to see how high they could jump and sat on the floor for a lower perspective, this helped to emphasise the jumping.

We ended up with some great shots that the parents loved. So much so they have a few A1 canvas prints scattered around their villa now. The beauty of letting the kids be themselves and generally run riot is that for one you end up with natural looking shots that really depict the kids as they are, and secondly, they wear themselves out leaving you time to get some "quieter" portraits as in image 25 on my portfolio page.