Portraits
We go out and pose kids and get them looking their best… and that’s cool.
Sometimes the mom goes crazy when they goof off during the shoots… sometimes she doesn’t.
Sometimes the kids behave… sometimes they don’t.
That’s just the way it is.
People get a photographer to come and do the portraits that they don’t feel comfortable doing themselves, or perhaps they want to be in it too.
MORE THAN PORTRAITS
But what about a photographer to just be there to Document life sometimes.
This visit
Like for instance I went and visited a friend.
I went out to the car and pulled out my camera.
Nothing changed… they did exactly what they would have done that hour had I not been there.
What the little girl did
The girl finished her math homework. I got them while she was seriously studying… before she even knew what was happening.
Of course she noticed too… then She made faces at me and joked around.
The mom told her to stop making faces… but you know what it’s fine it’s her.
What the little boy did
He was playing with his airplane and showing it to me… so i had him pose with it.
He was playing Wii so i just took some candids.
What the mom did
The mom was working on the computer on top of the washer. She didn’t know… but that’s what life is like that’s what she does, that’s what we do. That’s truly documenting life.
I’m not saying there’s no interaction from the photographer, that there’s no posing… I suppose it’s a mix of everything… it’s going with the flow, doing whatever happens.
It’s different than a portrait shoot
But with paid shoots this can be harder… because sometimes we have to let go of wanting everything to be exactly the way we planned it.
Just let things happen and trust that I’ll take totally awesome pictures that testify to who your family really is, but maybe a little biased towards making you look good anyway 
Sometimes the best things happened unplanned
Sometimes some of the best possible pictures happen unplanned and unposed and they mean the most because it speaks to what life was really really really like.
And that day this is what life was like for that hour. See all
FABULOUS post! I’m sure she’ll LOVE it! I love the “doing math homework” picture! Absolutely perfect!
Great post Scott, I agree with everything you said here.
So great Scott — those are beautiful! Especially the first homework shot. All those pictures had so much feeling in them. Love it.
You are so relaxed and willing to let life happen. I think part of that comes from your ability to work the camera so proficiently that you can handle circumstances as they arise and adapt quickly.
I love looking at your work; I hate how it leaves me well aware of how much further I have to go.
Well said Scott. These pictures definitely represent real life, in a beautiful way. I love the one of the mom working on her laptop on the washer. She looks so gorgeous.
So now I have this idea in my head of you doing this type of shoot for my family while we are camping. Sigh… someday.
I love this idea. I’ve wanted to do this sort of documentary photography for mom’s and their kids. It’s so real and personal!
What a fun idea. This is what got me going in photography in the first place- trying to document the daily life with my son. Love the mood of that last bw one.
It’s fun capturing people in their every day lives! Awesome captures!