All of us parents know exactly what that order form looks like when we conduct backpack inspections… The School picture order form is almost unchanged in the last 25 years… and sadly, so is the school picture. Now, half of the parents have nicer cameras than their school photographer, and although they are making some advances in school photos ( green screen backgrounds to digitally add scenery later) , its still, well, a school picture.
It’s not necessarily the photographers fault. He has a room of unruly children. He has 1-3 minutes per child to get a photo, then its on to the next kid. This is the result of working in that environment:
Properly exposed, Kaitlyn is looking, smiling, and didnt blink. check, check, check. But who is this kid? Thats not the little girl that I raised. Maybe I’m just taking crazy pills, but a portrait of someone is at its best when it reveals something about their character. ANYTHING. Just show us a glimpse of what the person is like through a photo. Needless to say, we didnt order school pictures this year. I have tons of pictures of my kids already, doing kid things, being themselves, reminding me of who they WERE, not just what they looked like.
Still, I felt compelled to experiment with the thought of shooting Kaitlyns “school” pictures. I could spend more time. I could get her to be expressive. I could choose the location. I could do it for free. All good reasons to give it a try! Here is 5 minutes of driving and 10 minutes of shooting:
THATS my girl (=
Since I am teaching Kaitlyn how to take pictures, we brought along a kid from the neighborhood to be HER model while she practiced. Right now, I am tackling camera settings, I’m just asking her questions to figure out what she wants in her photo, and changing settings accordingly. We are focusing on the art for now. (she wanted sunshine in the back and coming through her hair, and a blurry background) Here are a couple of hers:
Kaitlyn has already decided that she will be doing portraits instead of babysitting when she wants extra money as a young teenager.
Thats my girl (=
Much <3,
Dave
