Part two…are you ready? Don’t ever try and FORCE a toddler to pose. A
toddler will usually react to such a thing by becoming defiant, therefore doing
whatever you don’t want them to do. Oftentimes, having the mothers, or other
relatives around can be distracting. But what do you do when you ARE the
mother? Let me share this with you, from personal experience. Get a good
camera, more importantly, get a good lens, or a camera with plenty of optical
zoom. Get either lots of film, or a LARGE capacity memory card. Next, stand
back. RESIST the urge to say “Honey, look at me and smile!” It won’t work. Let
the kids do what they do best-play! Stand back, and snap away. What’s
better? A posed portrait of your little angel dressed to the nines sitting pretty and
smiling at the camera, or your little angel playing, and doing what you will always
want to remember them doing? Sure, a posed portrait is nice but a candid shot
will tell a story. Some of the best shots I have of my son are candid. They show
him being himself, just the way I always want to remember him. Pictures that tell
a story are not limited to just scrapbookers and photojournalists, so don’t avoid
taking lots of candid shots because you may not be one of those things! It would
be a good idea though, if you aren’t a scrapper, to at least get one of those nifty
albums that has a place next to the picture to write a few words about the picture.
That way, you can jot down the date, and a quick note about what you want to
remember.
Also, don’t get discouraged, you may have a memory card with 100 shots on it,
and only get a few that are really great. Shoot lots of pictures, don’t sit and WAIT
for the perfect shot, if you do that, chances are you will miss it. Take the picture
below, of my son. If I had just sat and waited, I would have missed this shot. It
was worth the 75 shots I took to get just this one.
