Stay on their team

Sometimes the hard moments are better than the easy ones

Last Saturday I travelled down to a little town called Dunchurch, where I met Charlotte and Ben, and their two boys, who were 1 and 4. They welcomed me into their house while they organised the last bits of clothing and bags to be taken to the shoot. I got chatting to their 4 year old, and he was totally excited. I gave him a gift, he loved it. Brilliant I thought. Job done. I wasn’t worried about the 1 year old, as I know they most bubbas give you every emotion they have, and all of it.

We walked to the location, which was absolutely stunning (Charlotte did an awesome job at choosing this) and Mr 4 was totally onside. He was reacting to my chatting to him and all was well.

About 20 minutes in, he was done. We weren’t even halfway through, and I knew I had to capture him in some way. I tried hard, so did his mum and dad. But Dad stayed on his side 100%. He was in his corner and he gave him every bit of love he had. I just kept clicking my camera, but was really worried that I wasn’t getting any of him enjoying much.

We called it a day, and I suggested coming back. Everyone knew that it just maybe didn’t go to plan, but we were all in good spirits, so it wasn’t a complete washout.

I got home, and instantly put the SD card in and uploaded them. And I was blown away.

Not only did Day stay in Mr 4s corner the whole time, but man, it glowed through the photos. It totally showed their bond, their understanding of each other, and to be honest, it couldn’t of been more perfect. I messaged Charlotte straight away and said, actually…. what I got was amazing.

Lesson learnt. Sometimes just standing back and not trying to get the perfect photos actually creates the perfect photos. Not making people show emotion, and letting all the emotions flow themselves was perfect. Happy families are great to capture, but loving understanding families just glows!

If you ever get a family shoot with any photographer, and your children are just not fully in it. Just pick them up. Chat to them, hug them, talk to them about things they love. Stroke their hair, hold them tight. Kiss them, snug them. Those emotions aren’t usually recorded on any phone or instagram post. Most people record the happy moments, but I promise you, the hard moments are just as beautiful, if not more.