We often photograph young children in our professional photographic studio in JHB.  We have a few regular clients and I really enjoying seeing how much their kids have grown in 6 months or a year

You really need to have tons of patience when working with kids, the secret with younger kids in particular is to take it slowly.  We always ensure that we will have enough time in the shoot to allow the child to come to us, instead of going to them. 

On arrival at the studio we’ll make the flashes fire a few times just to let them see and get used to it, and we also try to engage them into talking to us(If they’re old enough) about anything that really interests them like their pets, friends or even try to tell them a silly knock-knock joke, whatever it takes basically

We start off with a few professional family photos first just to get your kids used to being photographed in studio.  We also get down to their level which means we sit on the floor and play with them while busy photographing.

When you don’t do things like this and get the kids on your side they simply refuse to cooperate and the only thing we’ll end up with is miserable expressions.  That’s why it is so important to ensure you have planned enough time for the shoot.  Instead of telling your kids we’re going to a studio and you have to behave yourselves, rather emphasize how much fun it is going to be and have them pick one of their favourite toys to be included in the shoot(make sure it’s a toy you won’t mind having in the photos).

We conduct our shoot as interactively as possible especially with kids, instead of just posing them formally we will ask them to sing and dance(this usually includes us singing with them) or we’ll ask mom or dad to twirl them around, throw them in the air or even dangle them by their feet.  We do all of this to get them to smile.

Young children end up having so much fun at our relaxed photographic studio that they sometimes don’t want to go home…

Riani