Tip #1!

In January 2007 Me Ra Koh Photography takes this new turn that I’m so excited about! We start teaching photography workshops for moms! I can hardly wait for the dates to be here! But since it’s still a few months out, I thought I’d start posting “Photography Tips for Moms” every week (sometimes a couple times a week :)) in the midst of our wedding/ portrait posts. This way I can still converse with a bunch of you moms while we wait for the workshops to get here!

So I was wondering last night, ‘what should the first “tip” be?” I got to thinking about a recent speaking engagement I did for a group of fun moms. One of the main things I talked about was approaching your children and camera with the mindset that you are documenting them and their many stages of childhood. What would it be like if we approached our children as observers rather than saying “cheese” while trying to get the perfect smile? Believe me, I know as a mom it’s tough to resist the urge. But I can’t express how rewarding it’s been to take a different approach.

Here’s a couple shots from when I’ve refused to say “cheese.”

Pascaline was in love with old Bob, our neighbor’s cat. The summer before Bob died, she would spend hours in the backyard telling him all sorts of secrets (mainly her frustration of this new baby brother in our family). I’m so glad I didn’t have her turn around and say cheese.

I shot this through our dining room window. Pascaline isn’t allowed to be in the driveway without an adult (you can see our car blurred behind her). So when I first saw her down there I panicked, but when I saw her in a princess dress, with her Care Bear dressed up too, and singing her Care Bear to sleep, I couldn’t help but try and capture the moment.

Sometimes my kids protest the whole camera thing. I think it can get a bit overkill having both your parents be photographers. But this shot of Blaze, and his mad little face, will forever be one of my favorite shots. Just think what I would have missed if I asked him to say “cheese.”

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Exercise for “Refuse to Say Cheese”

1. Plan a fifteen minute window in your upcoming week. Have your camera ready and turn the flash off. Make this fifteen minute window happen right after breakfast or lunch when your kids’ tummies are full, and they’re ready to play.

2. Turn on some fun kid music (to mask the click of your camera).

3. Put some favorite toys in a cardboard box and set it next to your biggest, brightest window in the house. Have them sit down, and then give them the box of toys.

4. As they play, move to the outskirts of the room with your camera and shoot away. Don’t get in to close, or you’ll risk being obtrusive and believe me they’ll catch on fast. (My super secret to this one? Food needs to stay in the dining room, but when I do this exercise I let them have a small bowl of cheerios to snack on as they play. For some reason that small bowl of cheerios always takes my kids attention off of me.)

5. Shoot a lot, especially if you’re digital. Check your images every so often and adjust your settings if you need too.

6. Let me know how it goes! 🙂

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So there it is! The first Photography Tip post for moms. I’m already working on the next couple for this week and can’t wait to post them up! If you haven’t already, you are welcome to subscribe to this blog and be notified of new photography tips by filling in your email in the yellow box. To learn more about me visit About Me Ra. To find out more information on our photography workshops, visit “Documenting a Child’s Life.” To see our day job, visit our website.