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I’m excited about a photography workshop I’ll be participating in this next week.  The focus of the workshop will be child and senior portraiture taught by the very talented Amy Wenzel.

There are many reasons why I chose this workshop for 2009, one of which was this tag line -
getting 3 or more crying children to put their arms around each other and start laughing while looking directly at the camera for 40 frames with a 99.9% success rate every shoot. (Yes, I’m really serious on this one!).

Much of the time during my photo sessions with kids, I am capturing them as they are, capturing what they enjoy doing…most often this does not involve looking into the camera.  I’m talking to them while I’m photographing, so often all I need to do is just say their name or ask them to look at me.  But there are times when I’m photographing families or groups of kids where it is nice to have a more posed shot with everyone looking into the camera and smiling.

Yes, for these types of photos, my aim is to get eye contact and smiles, but my favorite photos are the ones I take before and after that “perfect” photo.

Here are some “out-takes” from a session earlier this year.  Mom really wanted a photo with all 4 boys looking at the camera, smiling if possible.

At first, Colin is crying.

Then Connor makes a silly face (notice that Colin is now looking happy).

Then Nathan’s nose itches.

I’ll be flying out on Sunday and coming home on Thursday, so I will not be returning e-mails, placing orders, or blogging until Friday.  I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with my “to-do” list lately and was considering not going to this workshop.  A huge thank you to my dad for his encouragement and to my HG girls (love ya!) for their “blessing.”

Have a great weekend!