MomShots

Note from Jessica: Today I am very excited to announce that our guest DadShots post is by Brett Birdsong, of Birdsong Photography. Brett is an extremely talented photographer from Pensacola, Florida but travels all over the US shooting amazing photos. If you want some inspiration, spend a few minutes looking through Brett’s galleries on his site!
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did!

I have two little monkeys.

Jacob, who is 5, and Kylie, who is 4.

They are bundles of personality, independence, and insanity. Basically, small versions of me. This round of photos came about during a summer’s day about a year or so ago, in an honest attempt to get some “normal” portraits of the kids. I fall into that odd category of taking thousands of photos during a weekend in wedding season, but have virtually jack squat when it comes to photos of my own kids. I’m horrible I know, but I’m working on it.

So the scene before me was a big, fenced backyard, two freshly bathed kids under the age of 5 in clean clothes. Daddy, the professional photographer, with his fancy cameras and lenses, and the two perfect children to photograph. I could handle this right? I’ve dealt with crying mothers-of-the-bride, intoxicated wedding guests, and fainting officiants…I think I can handle normal photos of my own kids. Right?

In the time it took me to look down, adjust my camera settings, and fire off a few test shots of Jake, Kylie had found dirt, which had made it’s way on to her shirt and face. Jake found this worthy of a belly laugh, which encouraged Kylie, and within 5 minutes of walking outside with calm, clean kids, I had Goofballs 1 and 2 belly laughing at each other while I sat there watching, capturing the scene unfolding before me.

Lesson #1 learned - When I photograph kids, I now have no preconceived notions or ideas of what I’m walking away from that particular session with. There are no backdrops, no lights, no ” sit here and let’s give Sears some competition” photo sessions at all. To me, photographing kids, especially my own, is completely about working with the moment. Sit back, relax, let them be kids. You’ll end up with some really fun shots.

During the the course of the next 15 minutes or so, betwixt belly laughs and smudging dirt on each other, I had each of the kids stand in front of me and make a silly face. Anything silly, I said. I’d make a face at them, they’d make a face back. And out of the silly faces that were made, this collage of photos was born. Now granted, I didn’t get exactly what I had intended to that day. But what I did get was a few photographs of a brief moment in time where my two kids and I sat in the sunshine on a warm summer’s day and made silly faces at each other, and laughed together.

It simply brings back a really great memory of spending time with my kids. And I honestly couldn’t ask more than that from a photograph.

Last week Jessica was asking for guest bloggers to post on MomShots.com and I jokingly responded that the site needed a “DadShots post from a guy.” I was surprised when she responded with a positive and encouraging comment, so I jumped at the chance to reach out to an audience of parents that love to photograph their kids. I became a MomShots fan after Jessica gave a presentation at Photo Camp Utah in March of 2009. The theme of this site reminds me of what initially sparked my interest in photography, taking photos of my kids.

My journey into photography began in June 2000 when my first son, Caleb, was born. As a proud new parent I took pictures of him with a VGA camera (640 x 480, not even 1 megapixel) that only had enough memory to take 12 pictures, and cost about $500. The pictures looked terrible, but I was able to email them to family and was quickly bitten by the photo bug. Almost ten years and seven cameras have passed since I snapped the first picture of Caleb. To this day I constantly remind myself it’s not about getting perfect photos of my kids, it’s about capturing memorable moments through photos.

As my photo skills have increased, so has my level of personal photo critique. Can professional or pro-am photo skills be combined with creating memorable photos of your kids? It’s hard to pre-visualize photographic moments with kids. Christmas morning with children is not about perfect lighting, f-stops and shutter speeds. It’s not always possible to create a perfect environment to photograph candid moments of kids. In my house, the crazy photographic moments happen when my youngest son, Connor, spontaneously dresses up as Nacho Libre with Batman wings and runs around the house with a Star Wars lightsaber. The challenge that I have is putting the elements of getting a perfect image out of my head so I can capture that memorable moment.

While it may not be possible to create the perfect photographic environment every time you point the camera at your kids, there are some easy things you can do to improve your photos:

Lighting – Turn off the on-camera flash. When shooting indoors, open the blinds and let some ambient or available light from a window into the room. This works well when you’re attempting to capture a candid moment of your kids because the flash won’t distract them. Natural sources of light look better than the hard shadow created by a flash.

Light: Natural light from a window

Speed – Kids move quickly, you may want to consider using the Sports or Action mode on your camera. Observe what the camera has suggested for the light conditions and subject (ISO, shutter speed, etc.). When you’re ready to use creative modes on your camera (i.e. Aperture, Shutter Priority, Manual Exposure, etc.), you’ll know and understand what needs to be setup.

Speed: Sneaking A Quick Lick of Birthday Cake

Get down and close – Part of creating a memorable photo is getting a different perspective. You can do that by getting down on the floor with your kids and moving closer to their face. Use the 6 Tips for Photographing Kids in the left-hand margin of MomShots.com.

Down low: Snowboard Wipeout

Take lots of photos – Memory cards are cheap! Don’t judge your photos by previewing them on the tiny screen of your camera. Viewing them on your computer monitor is much more rewarding. You will find photos you thought were trash captured the moment better than expected.

Tons of photos: Sledding off a Jump

Again, it’s not about creating perfect images of our kids. It’s about capturing memorable moments through photos. Improve your skills, read your camera manual, and take tons of photos. In the natural progression of things, your skills as a photographer will show in the images you create as Mom or Dad.

Note from Jessica: Shaun is an awesome photographer. You can find more of his images at his website. Thanks for the wonderful post and refreshing perspective. I know I speak for all of us when I say come back and post anytime! Thanks Shaun!”