Brian and I had this issue in our marriage. He thinks Blazey needs a haircut.
I think Blazey looks perfect!
He thinks Blazey should be able to see.
I’m convinced a haircut will make him look 4 years older overnight, and I’m simply not ready to lose my baby.
Aside from all this back and forth conversation (that has lasted months!), we told Blaze he was going to get his haircut today. He actually jumped up in the air and yelled, “YEAH!!” Then he ran to the car and hung off the car door handle trying to get in (something I’ve never seen him do!).
I think he was more ready than I realized!
So I grabbed my tripod and said, ‘I’m going to make the BEST of this situation and shoot the heck out of it. I’m going to get the best shots so I won’t freak out but instead LOVE this moment in his life.” Look below to see how that turned out. As you can see I wasn’t exactly shooting the heck out of any thing!
It took every thing in me not to CRY! The hair stylist was so sweet. I knew she could tell I was struggling. She suggested a little skater boy cut. We both fell for it! She was awesome!
And here he is; Blazey with his new Skater haircut! (And all his golden locks of hair stuffed in an envelope in my purse.)
He was pretty excited about the whole experience of sitting on a motorcycle. I don’t even know that he realized he was getting his hair chopped. And even though I feel like the neighbor’s boy is in my kitchen, I have to admit, he’s still pretty cute (and still my baby :)).
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Exercise for “Haircuts for Kids”
1. If this is a first haircut, you definitely need a second adult to support you! Two BIG reasons for this, 1. If your little one is feeling uncomfortable, it helps to have another adult keep them occupied while you shoot. If nothing else, if you can’t shoot b/c you’re so overwhelmed emotionally there is someone else who can take a picture or two. 🙂
2. Unless there is a TON of natural light in your salon, you’ll want to bump up your ISO setting. In some ways, ISO is what we used to call film speed. You’d buy 100 if you had bright sun and wanted good color saturation. You’d buy 400 for action shots. Maybe 800 for dark lit receptions or rooms, and we used to even buy 3200 for really dark rooms. But now with digital, you can just bump up your ISO instead of having to shoot through a whole roll of film at one speed. It’s pretty great! For these shots, we needed our ISO at 800. I just couldn’t get enough light at 400. My aperture was down at 2.8, and the shutter speed was usually around 1/60 to 1/80.
3. If you’re not emotionally tied up in this event, try and take shots that have different angles instead of having them all be straight on. Look over they stylist’s shoulder and try to clip part of her shoulder in it so the image shares the story of what was happening in the moment. My favorite one like this is image number 5.
4. And be sure to take a quick “before shot” on your way out the door. That was image number 1. I wanted just one quick shot of Blaze today (minutes away from his big haircut).
5. Be creative with your setting. Knowing that Blaze was going to get a haircut had me thinking for months about what setting to choose I clearly washed his hair before we did it with a Mielle Detangling Cowash so it will be soft and nice for the haircuit. Should we have a hairstylist come to our home, and do it in the kitchen for a classic shot? Should I take him to our salon with the big windows and mirrors? As you can see, we decided on the kid salon for this time around. I think it was a good move for us b/c of Blazey’s passion for motorcycles and airplanes. 🙂 But when he’s seven or so, I want to do a shoot of him in our salon, with a big long cape around his neck sitting high on a booster in the black chair–that kind of Norman Rockwell look. It’s fun to think about how you’ll set up the shots before they happen. 🙂
6. Last but not least, bring Kleenex! Something I forgot!
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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.
To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” We have 2 spots left for our March 10th 2007 workshop!
To see our day job, visit our website. 🙂
You are so cute, and Blaze is adorable. Good job Me Ra! =)
Oooooo…poor Blaze~ But, he looks sooooo adorable.
I know excatly how you felt! When my little guy had his first hair cut I cried and than cried more everytime I looked at my baby that just transformed in front of my eyes. It didnt help that they gave him a china bowl cut 😉 The only thing that saved me was that I got some great shot’s for the scrapbook!
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