Continuing on with our mini sessions, we did a Mommy & Me style session with Brittney and her daughter. The day was perfect for pictures as the shaded area of the Trek Trail in Effingham provided some great scenery for the pictures. One thing I love doing during sessions when kids are involved is to let kids be kids. I could be one of very few in this boat, but when it comes to family pictures, I want to capture everyone for who they are. Kids are energetic and love to move around, so for Brittney’s session, I thought as I was posing her and her daughter, her daughter started to jump around, I thought, this is perfect! I’m going to do some pictures of her daughter jumping and dancing around. She was all for it, too! Even though her daughter was very well behaved and would do whatever I asked, many times I use this approach and in the middle of the kid dancing, running, jumping, or whatever, I quickly ask for a smile and it’s amazing the smile you can get out of them, and it’s typically a real, genuine smile. Granted, this smile lasts for about half a second until the jumping starts again, but I love this about family pictures. These are the pictures I feel will be treasured most. Sure, we all love happy faces on all the family members, but your kids are only kids once and capturing the energy they have, the things they like to do, I feel these are the pictures that will mean the most because this is a moment in time that’s real and this is the type of emotion we want to preserve when it comes to family pictures.
