whatever you do, don't smile!

annie lebovitz tells beginning photographers to start by shooting the people around them — friends and family, people you're comfortable with and know — to get the hang of how to approach the world through a lens. the first people i shot when i started to get seriously into photography was my family, and more specifically, my nieces and nephews. and if there's anything i've learned from the millions of clicks i've clacked shooting the youngsters in my family is that kids have a mind their own (how dare they!) and it's rarely a mind that thinks "yes, i'd love to sit still and pose with a angelic smile on my face."

that's what i like about shooting kids. force them to pose and tell them to smile, you'll get stilted forced grimaces. let them run around (as they're wont to to) and tell them whatever you do DOONNN'T SMILE (!!!) and the personality comes out loud and clear. and that's what i love to capture - the exuberance and silliness and immediacy of being a kid.

two of my favorite subjects are my youngest nephews tyler and aidan. these two wouldn't sit still for a serious pose if you paid them in fruit snacks and legos. but tell them run around and DONNN'T SMILE and they appear, as they really are. a couple of rambunctious kids.

cheers-

d