Tips for photographing children

I wrote this for a photography site I use and thought I would put it on my blog:

I attempted to have a practice 'photo shoot' with my 15 month old daughter yesterday. Here are some lessons I learned and thought I would pass them on:

1. Make sure the child is well-rested, fed, clean, and happy. Sound like too much to ask for? It probably is. At least make sure that you, as the photographer, are well-rested and fed. Don't count on being clean. And at least pretend to be happy.

2. Set up soft lighting using a soft box, or if using natural lighting- a north facing window works well. If the baby knocks over your lighting equipment, try not to yell, as you don't want to scare the baby and make him or her cry- remember the goal is HAPPY babies!! You may also need to get out the Windex to wipe off the strained carrots, handprints, and other goobers from the north facing window.

3. Make sure you have a non-distracting background. Solid colors work well to focus attention on the child. Oops- the baby just spit up on the black background? Try the white. Oh dear, the baby just had a massive, exploding diaper that leaked on your white bg? Change the baby and keep smiling!!! Remember, taking baby photos is FUN!

4. You can create charming, special memories using cute props such as baskets, stuffed animals, blankets, etc. If the child starts screaming and throwing the props, however, it may be best to try using no props.

5. There are many ways to capture a child's attention, such as bells, whistles, squeaky toys, or anything that would get them to look at you and your camera. Snapping your fingers and yelling LOOK AT THE CAMERA FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY!! may not be the best way to achieve your goal of happy, smiling children.

6. Take a LOT of pictures. 99.9% of them will be of the top of the child's head, with the child's finger up the nose, a big blur as the child is running away, a beautiful, clear photo of the child- who is crying with snot running down his or her face, etc. Hope, pray, and cross your fingers that JUST ONE of the 1500 photos you just took turned out.

7. Put the camera away and have a nice glass of wine. You deserve it!!!

Vote for Ella

In the spirit of the upcoming election, I thought I would let anyone who reads my blog practice their right to vote to make sure their voting skills are in tip-top shape.

Seriously, Ella's photo was chosen as a finalist in a KETV summer photo contest. The winner gets a $200 gift card to Gordmans. Here is the link:

http://www.ketv.com/news/17288055/detail.html

Go vote for Ella!!! Mommy needs some new shoes!!! Actually, I will use the money to buy the kiddos some winter clothes, which they badly need.

I'm officially a soccer mom!

Noah's bumped forehead

Noah started soccer this fall- Wednesday was his first game. Seth had been practicing with him in the backyard, but we soon discovered that kicking a ball around with Daddy in the yard is much different that trying to kick a ball when there is a pack of very physical little 4 and 5 year old surrounding it. Poor Noah tried hard, but he was content to just follow behind all the little boys, knowing that he should be running with them, but not really seeming to understand that his goal was to actually kick the ball and take it away from the other team. He was usually a good 6 feet behind the mob, and was happy as a clam carrying on a conversation with his imaginary friend, Super Alicia, and stopping every once in a while to wave at us and give us a thumbs up. I thought it was hysterical to watch and that he was very sweet, but Seth just couldn't understand why he wasn't going after the ball like the other kids. At one point Seth mumbled under his breath "he's the biggest kid out there, why isn't he going after the ball?" Well, I could tell him why. One time Noah did get in the group and he accidentally butted heads with another kid and got a huge goose egg on his forehead. He cried and cried and had to go out of the game. I thought he was being a little dramatic until I saw the huge bump on his head- poor little guy! Another kid on the other team was very aggressive and pushed the kids around- no matter what team they were on. The coaches told him not to push, but not two seconds later Noah ran by him and as they were running the kid stuck his arm out and pushed Noah to the ground. The next time Noah came over to get a drink he was very upset saying "the coach told him not to push and he did it anyway. Doesn't he speak English??" When they were done playing, I asked Noah if he had fun and he emphatically said "Yeah!". Then he added "Well, I'm actually quite exhausted, but MOM! Every single child got their own SNACK!!!!" And that made it all worth it!

Well, we're surviving "Back to School"

I took this photo last night at Zorinsky after Ella and I went for a walk and Seth and Noah fished. It got dark sooner than I was expecting, so they ended up fishing in the dark. I've had that song in my head ALL DAY!

I started back to work last Thursday and worked Thursday, Friday, and Monday. I have today and tomorrow off, and then will work Thursday and Friday again. It's been a little of an adjustment, but overall things have gone fairly smoothly.

Work for me started off with a bang because I'm in the same school I was in last year, so they've been throwing things at me right away, whereas last year they kindly gave me a couple week grace period to get settled. The kids settled right back into going to Lisa's. Noah and Ella are both excited to go in the morning, and not overly anxious to come home at night, which I guess is good, but makes me a teensy bit sad. Ella has been a serious crabby pants when she gets home. I seem to remember Noah doing that after being gone all day when he was around the same age. Part of it I think is hunger, part is just that time of day, and part, I like to think, is Ella's way of saying "Mommy, I really missed you while you were gone, and I'm glad you're here to get me. I had a fun day and played nicely with lots of things. I'm proud of you for working and being a great mom, I appreciate all you do for our family." Or something like that. Since the only words she can produce right now revolve around various foods, drinks, family members, and animals, she's a little limited on being able to get that whole message across, so it just comes out as crabbiness.

Noah on the other hand, has a vocabulary that doesn't seem normal for a 4 year old. Today we were building with Legos and he told me that his tower was "a little precarious". One of his favorite words is "attracted", but he uses it when he means to say "attached". "I tried to pull off this hangnail, but it is attracted to my finger". The other thing he's started doing is calling me "Mom" instead of "Mommy". Just a couple weeks ago I was thinking (again) of him starting kindergarten. I was thinking that most of the kids I know in Kdg. say mom and dad instead of mommy and daddy. I was wondering if that would just come for Noah, or if we would have to tell him or what. I love being Mommy, but I don't want him to get made fun of at school. But, on his own, he just decided to start calling me Mom, which makes me a little sad. I also wonder if Ella will call me mom much sooner because she hears Noah saying it. Oh well, I guess it's better than dummy and ugly and some of the other words I've been called. ☺

Where Your Adventures Come Alive

Noah must have heard a commercial for Adventureland somewhere, because he would quote "where your adventures come alive" whenever we talked about our trip there on August 1st, and we talked about it A LOT this summer. Noah, you better eat your peas so you can grow tall enough to go on the rides in Adventureland. Noah, make sure you take a good nap so your body can rest and grow for the rides at Adventureland. He was SOOOO excited to go! We went with some friends of ours, Tom and Jen, and their kids Paige (3) and Callee (2). We left Ella home with Grandma and Grandpa because it was supposed to be really hot and we didn't want her to have to sit in the stroller all day.

We left very early on Saturday so we could get there close to the opening time at 10:00. The kids had a BALL!! They all did so much better than I expected, they LOVED the rides, and had so much fun together. The hardest part was waiting in the long lines, especially toward the end, but all in all, they all did great. Noah was very excited to go on the Detonator, but then we found out you have to be 52 inches and he is only 43 inches, so he couldn't go. He was so disappointed that he cried, but then we took him on the bumper cars and he forgot about the detonator. He went on a lot of rides, little kid rides and even some bigger rides and loved every single one. We ended up staying until almost 8:00. Then we ate a quick dinner at Culvers, and then the kids swam in the hotel pool. Noah didn't get to bed until 11:00, and he fell fast asleep before I got through his bedtime story. It was such a fun week-end and I was so glad that Seth and I could do something special with just Noah, which we haven't been able to do in awhile.

A few quick updates

I feel like I've been such a slacker with my blog this summer. I've been so busy with the kids and my pictures and our trips recently that I'm not taking much time on here. Once I get back to work I'm sure I'll have more time (sshhhh... don't tell my boss).

Anyway, we just got back from a family reunion in Minnesota this week-end. It was a fast trip, but I'm really glad we went. I got to see my grandma and a lot of my other relatives. Noah had so much fun playing with my cousin's daughter, Gabby, who is five, and playing soccer with my cousin Hannah, who is 16. There were about 8 boys around Noah's age to play with, but he chose the older girls. He was playing tag with Gabby and Seth and my brothers and some of the other cousins. Gabby was chasing him and Noah said "you'll never catch me!!!" A couple seconds later she was right behind him and he said "well, maybe you will". It was a beautiful day and it was in a really nice park that had a really nice, clean shelter with a kitchen area and nice restrooms. I was really impressed! Did I mention it was nice? Ella had a ball, too, just walking around and saying "hi" to anyone and everyone.

She's recently learned to say hi and tries it out on EVERYONE she sees. Today the poor high school boy who was our check-out at Target had to say hi to her about 24 times while I was trying to pay. She also says Daddy really well, unfortunately she doesn't discriminate yet, so everyone is daddy- the plumber, my female doctor, a bird, etc. She gets so excited when Seth gets home from work and will stop whatever she is doing and go over as soon as he opens the door and says "Daddy!" and puts her arms up to be held. It's soooo sweet! She also says mama, more, bye-bye, night-night, Ella (which sounds more like Edgy), Gage, doggie, and fan (which sounds more like daddy). It's funny how obsessed she is with fans, because Noah was, too. When he was 10 months old he consistently said "dee" when he looked at the fan, and he looked at it a lot. Dee, dee, dee, dee.

Noah is growing and growing. He is still very dramatic and loves to pretend and act out stories and plays. When I say he should be an actor when he grows up he gets very adamant that he "is going to be a PALEONTOLGIST!" Sorry. The other day Seth was being a little crabby with Noah and then apologized later for it. Noah said "that's okay, Daddy. Even when you're mean, I still love you". He earned some brownie points with me tonight as he was helping set the table. He got out two knives (which were identical) and said that "Daddy gets the big one because he's bigger, and you get the thin one because you're thinner". Funny!

Wildlife Safari

Last week-end Seth and I took the kids to the Wildlife Safari in Ashland. We had never been there and I don't know what I was expecting, but it was so much more fun than I thought it would be! There was a hiking trail that we went on where we were supposed to be able to see bears and wolves. We did see a bear that came right up to the fence, but we didn't see any wolves. We had the double stroller and didn't know what to expect on the trail. At first it was paved, which was good. Then it was cobblestone, which was okay. Soon it was gravel, which was a little more difficult. Then it turned into a narrow dirt trail, which was a challenge for Seth to push. Eventually (past the point where it would have made sense to turn around) it was a VERY steep hill and Seth had to carry the double stroller up over rocks and logs, with Ella still in the stroller. I would have carried her, but I don't know if I could have done it because I was struggling just getting up myself and helping Noah. Oh, and it was about 99 degrees. Seth was such a trooper, though. I just kept my eyes ahead because if I would have turned around and saw him struggling up that hill with the steep drop-offs and Ella laughing away in the stroller, I think I would have had a heart attack. Once we got back in the car, though, I felt much safer. It was a really fun day and Noah was excited at how close we got to the animals. We had to stop at one point so elk could cross the road in front of us. We saw antelope right on the side of the road and bison all congregated in a pond.

Lauritzen Gardens

We have been having such a fun, busy summer that I have been neglecting my blog lately. I thought I would take some time today to add some updates.

A few weeks ago Seth's aunt Joyce came to visit Seth's parents. We all went to Lauritzen Gardens one afternoon (one very HOT afternoon). I had never been there, and it was a lot bigger than I expected. It was a very fun trip, they had some things for Noah to do, and he loved the model train exhibit.