Today my little girl turned 5. I don’t know where the time has gone. It seemed that I must have blinked sometime.
So I wanted to get a few images of her on her birthday. She is like any other kiddo. She can turn away from the camera in a nano second. It is crazy.
.
.
.
.
.
Soon came the fake smiles.
.
You know the ones, the I-really-don’t-want-to- be-here smiles. So how do you get past the fake smiles and onto the real smiles??
.
.
First we have to get them to relax. Kids feed off of their parents reactions. If you are nervous before a photoshoot, they will be too!
.
When fake smiles come out it is best to leave them alone a little. Give them some space to just play for a bit. Sophie quickly forgot that I was taking her picture and played around the ‘canyon’.
.
.
.
.
But pretty soon she started hiding perfectly behind the balloons, again.
.
So, what is the secret to getting real smiles??
.
.
Get their minds off having their photo taken!
.
I started telling her about when she was a baby.
How little she was.
How she cried.
And how she pooped. all. the. time.
.
It did the trick. She stopped trying to smile for me and began smiling for me 🙂
And my sweet, sneaky baby had her smile.
.
.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just relax. I have to tell myself that a lot when photographing my own kids.
.
.
Since it is her birthday here is a little about my sweet little Sophia.
.
She is the oldest, now 5, little girl that I know. I truly believe she is an old soul. She is smarter than I know what to do with. She understands more than I can imagine. I love that her imagination grows by the day. She makes little videos on our iPads with her dolls. (so much better than my videos) She is who she is and doesn’t care what you think. Unless she thinks you are laughing at her. Then she gets sad and then mad. I love this girl to the end of the earth and back.
.
..
.
.
Check back next week for some Thursday Tips, Tricks, & randomness 😉
.
follow me on facebook for the latest Sophie-isms, updates and randomness!
.
