It’s the Holiday season and parents across the world are taking their wide-eyed babes to the Photographers all over to have pictures taken with the jolliest of Elf’s, Santa. You know it’s going to go with one of two ways good or bad. There is just no in between with this. Your child is going to be so over joyed that he gets to share his year-long wish list with the Big Guy that he is going to happily sit on Santa’s lap and smile or he/she just wont. My kids didn’t there was not a bribe possible that would convince the MadCris Team to crack a smile.
So how do you get them to feel comfortable enough to enjoy the long lines, short visit, and the big man in the red suit.
Well each child is different first and foremost so what I am going to share may not work for some but think about how you can play around with some of these ideas to make them workable for you and your kiddy’s you never know. Also I’d love to hear your ideas so please leave them in the comments below.
Hear goes
1.) If having photo’s done at the mall, try and visit at least a week before, let the child(ren) see Santa’s Village prior to having pictures taken. Hang out and explain what’s going on, let them see other kids their age getting pictures done as well. This will revive some of the pressure that your child may be feeling but not know how to express. Even if you are using a private photographer you can say something like ‘We are going to have our family portraits done next weeks, at Ms. Jessica’s Studio, do you think she will have a set up like that?’ this opens lines of communication and lets your child know what to expect.
2.) Clothing–Holiday portraits tend to bring out the best in clothing but that doesn’t always work well for kids. Especially if they hear mom saying “don’t get dirty’ or Don’t spill juice on yourself!’ I know this because well, I am a photographer and I hear the stress in moms voice as they are getting out of the car yelling at their offspring about, well spilt juice on their shirts. I like to advise just don’t put the good shirt on the child till you arrive at the shoot location. It’s the nature of kids to do the exact opposite of what you tell them but if you tell them to get dirty they will do that too. to that I say relax and bring the shirt on a hanger.
3.) Get Silly–As parents we want so badly for our children to ‘smile’ for the camera that we forget everything about them. THey are children and like to play and laugh, so take a few minutes and get silly with them. The one thing you don’t want is for your babes to see your camera as a punishment, and by that I mean if they don’t smile you get mad. That’s never a good thing because you will always battle with them for good images and have a child who hates taking pictures.
4.) Get out side and have an adventure. Here in Philadelphia there is no shortage of family friendly activities that you can partake in. For example Christmas Village in center city is sure to bring a smile to anyones face, of if you know of a favorite place to pick flowers challenge your child to pick as many as he/she can in 5 minutes and see what kind of images you can get of their smiling face.
