You’ve got my suggestions for where to start when photographing your children, so how about my favorite prompts to help children smile naturally?
No child (or adult, really) wants to stand still and smile for a photograph, right? They have important work to do elsewhere!
When I talk about using photography as a vehicle for living intentionally, I’m talking about slowing down to look at your life–but I’m also talking about engaging with it. Approaching your camera with intention as means to engage with your children when you use the camera.
So, here are some specific ways to engage with your child and have fun taking photos with them! 💖
Play a game
Peek-a-boo, call and respond (clap, wave, dance, lift-your arms, say hooray, etc to prompt a response) and funny animal sounds are great for babies. Tickle fights (with permission), simon says, asking for jokes, and dance competitions and are great for older children!
Ask for help
I love asking children for help! One of my favorite prompts is to ask for help finding something that might have crawled in my camera like a bug or animal. You can also ask for help remembering silly animal sounds or words, or help remembering crazy dance moves. Or you can approach this as asking for help doing a task that you want to actually do together and photograph. Ideas include creating something, baking, scavenger hunts, building a fort, or building something else!
Prompt looking at something
Again, so many things you can ask children to look for! Examples include, a specific family member, look for someone’s eye color, the person with the best jokes, stinkiest farts, etc. I also like to do rapid fire prompts like look up/down/at me/down/up/down/left/up until they giggle.
