Childrens Portraits Whidbey Island

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing a very beautiful young boy. He has bright big eyes, gorgeous curly hair and if you can capture it, a very wonderful smile. It was one of my best portraits in a while and I am so happy with how it all came to be.

 

A few weeks after my daughter was born, when she was still sleeping like a baby, I took my son outside to cut his bangs. He was still very young and we were still so in love with his sweet curls. The bangs had to get cut, he couldn’t see. I made him a grilled cheese sandwich with lots of ketchup and we went outside. While he ate, I cut. When it was over he could see, he had ketchup all over his mouth and I was taking pictures. I ended up snapping what is probably my most favorite portrait of him. It captures his beautiful eyes,  his last little bit of baby face and his glorious blond hair. I have it hanging in our house and I look at it often. Not too long ago I looked at it and I decided I needed to take another. So when this boy came along I knew exactly what to do.

 

I took the boy outside and had him sit in front of me. I told him I would be kind of close and that he didn’t need to smile. This threw him off in a big way and he really wasn’t sure how to handle the situation from there. We did a few different things where I told him to look at me and to not smile. He went through a few different poses on his own where he would smile and some where he would look away not knowing what he should really do. What we ended up with was a smile and him not looking. It is a composition that I wish was slightly better but it still works. I can see this becoming a series. I just need a few sunny days, a few beautiful children and some parents that want to hire me.