I really really love my fun family photography shoots – nothing beats how special this is. Sometimes I do a shoot, and I walk away from there, with that moment as the only reference of the children’s size and age….and then many times I get to meet with my previous clients again, for a follow-up shoots, and it just stuns me how much people have changed and how much children grow – way too fast I would say.
This little boy was super shy, and only with some help, and some jokes, we seems to get some smiles from him. This stays important – handling your clients, and their children, with respect but especially, with a lot of patience.
I usually want to have a family shoot outside, with natural light, and children being able to run and play.
When you study photography they teach you about a rule of thirds – always adding your subject to one of the fictitious lines on an image when cut into threes, and I love how this gives me more space to show the environment my clients are in more when we shoot.
As photographers we are service providers too, and we can’t forget that these images are what is expected of us. We can only do what we can do yes, but we must try, and give the family a decent, quality product, even if that means giving of ourselves more.
I don’t feel I’ll be worth my salt, nevertheless be able to charge people to pay me, if I don’t do everything in my power, to make children smile, and to give quality products. It isn’t suppose to be some sausage machine just to get over and done with in time for the next one – every time it’s an opportunity to create, and to give back, and family photography is where you can give of your skill in the utmost special of ways.
Yolandi Jacobsz, Specialized Photographer