Best Kids Photos, Ever

Don’t Change A Thing

It had been a day of laughter and joy with six of the seven grandkids doing all the things kids get to do when their cousins are the only contact and relationships for the day and parents and aunts and uncles are more interested in things that don’t yet apply to kids, so the kids aren’t bothered.

When it was announced that everyone would have to return to their normal roles and duties, I had already set up a white paper backdrop in the north-facing garage. The light was cool in the late afternoon with our house shrouded in shadow from the nearby small forest of trees. The soft light was perfect for portraits of kids who at the pronouncement that it was time to go fell into sadness at the departure and lethargy after a day of unrestrained activities.

Each one stepped into my very informal studio where the only instructions were to just stand for a minute while I made photos. The results are above.

There was a brief complaint by one of the parents that their child needed to be cleaned up, the sweat and dirt removed, and their hair combed. My objection was firm. Firm enough that there was only one complaint.

I desaturated the colors to simplify the visual impact. Color would have been distracting in the simplicity of the photos.

The importance of these photos comes from the idea of not making the portraits a series of posed photos of the kids. Photos that would have been better posed, with heads and shoulders properly turned and shaped, better lighting to add depth and detail, and a series of posing instructions to refine position and expression.

What the portraits became is a photo story about the day. About the exuberance of being a kid playing at the grandparent’s house with freedom only allowed away from home and granted because of location.

Everyone in the family who sees these photos 19 years after they were immediately remembers the day. Not because the photos are of the kids.

Because the photos are of exhausted kids shown in an unadulterated view with scrapes, disheveled hair, and dirty clothes, ready for a nap on the way home and with an early bedtime, I see their personalities. I recognize them as adults in a way that normal portraits would not have presented. A way that perfect portraits could not reveal.

The imperfections created in this series of candid photos are more expressive than what we think of today as normal portraits: more storytelling and better defining of the person.

Find a way in your photos to let the story be found. It may be as simple as doing very little except making a photo without consideration for any changes you could make in the subject.

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PhotoCamp Daily also recommends Civic Capacity and Into the Morning by Krista Steele.