Beautiful Baby Contest Winner Taiya

Today I photographed the first of two winners of the KRKT beautiful baby contest. Taiya is definitely a beautiful baby but – she was in anything but a beautiful mood. As I was setting up a complex set involving flowers, bunnies and a pink backdrop, I heard screams of absolute rage coming from this pint sized beauty queen.

In the beginning of my career a child like this would have had me scanning my appointment book for another open date to reschedule the shoot. But that kind of move is just plain Bush League. So if any of you out there have had an experience like this I thought that I might impart some of my tips gathered (the hard way) over the years.

 Tip number one Simplify the set. Just a plain white set works great for a child that is just not in good mood. It allows the child to roam the set freely and because it’s all white, it allows you to be more flexible about where to pose the child. With a white set you get all kinds of light bouncing around the room creating its own fill light. If the child gets too far from the main light it’s not really the problem it would be on a dark low-key set. This also allows the child to stay as far away from the possible doctor/photographer and still allows for decent photos.

Tip number two…..Let the kid scream their bloody little head off. The child is just voicing their opinion. They’ve been rushed to the studio, jammed into unfamiliar clothes, forced to meet a stranger who could very well be a doctor and that means shots!!! Then they are made to perform exactly how mom wants them to. That’s stressful for anyone. So what I recommended to mom on today’s shoot is to just let her scream. If she calms down we’ll shoot. If not, we’ll reschedule.

 This not only allows the child to blow off some steam it also lowers mom’s stress level. With mom more relaxed most kids settle right in. And in the case of the beautiful and charming Taiya this tactic worked. After she calmed down she was the biggest camera flirt I have had in our new studio.

Tip 3 Let them be loud. Mom and dad make the child be quiet. At the doctors’ office at the store, in the car, just about everywhere a child goes they are told to be quiet. But at places where the child is encouraged to play they’re allowed to be noisy. I figured this out while photographing my own children. If I allow them to be noisy, they think we’re playing.

Today after I had Taiya calmed down I brought in a toy hammer and an empty pretzel bucket. As soon as I showed her how to make noise with it, she realized that I wanted her to play. That’s exactly what she did. Because  we became friends, I was obviously not a doctor, and we got some very cute photographs.

 So there you have it –  that’s my secret of turning meltdowns into memories.

 Good luck _Daniel