Why You Should Never Get Angry or Yell at Your Kids To Cooperate During Your Photo Shoot

I get it. It takes a lot to organize your entire family for your photo shoot day. You’ve made your husband come home early from work, missed that soccer game, rescheduled your child’s math tutor, all so that you can have your family photo done. You’ve ordered outfits, and strategically planned for literal perfection. You want these photos to be “perfect” because you only do this once a year. There is a LOT of pressure for them to come out amazing. BUT you have kids, maybe even babies, and well, lets face it, kids and babies are everything but predictable. They are quite the opposite. Nothing usually goes smooth or as planned with little ones. Lets lower our expectations, and trust your photographer! It’s not even about the kids “behaving,” its about how awesome your photographer is ;) True story! Also, It’s about not intervening, and adding more pressure to your children to “act accordingly.” Ill tell you why! Full disclosure, this family did not yell at their kids. They were super patient and loving.

Real is Better than Perfect

Your life isn’t perfect, and I’m not here to document perfect either. If you chose me as your photographer, I’m here to document real. So maybe that doesn’t mean your child is listening, looking at the camera, or even smiling for the entire hour. Even with the wildest kids, I have managed to capture beauty. Please trust that I will do so, even with your wild children! I have a way, but my way only works if the parents aren’t intervening, telling the kids to smile, look at the camera, and much worse, threatening and yelling at them. This just creates a child who doesn’t want to be there, who is angry or frustrated, and feels unseen. They are children, after all, and they were not meant to be perfect, not even during a photo shoot. So if your kids are taking a sibling shot, and one or all are being silly or grumpy, or just doesn’t want to smile, please allow me to handle it! If you, the parent, tries to step in with anger, or threats, I promise this will make it worse, and ultimately make the photos worse.

Let’s all Misbehave

When you add a ton of pressure to your children to “behave” during a photoshoot, this does one of two things. It makes them want to rebel, and act worse, or it shuts them down, and makes it harder for me to capture their true essence, in fear of getting in trouble. I am here to capture your child’s real, raw and authentic self. Not just the perfectly posed shots. Can you trust me? ;)