I do a lot of photography with small children, that wonderful one- to five-year old range where they are everywhere all the time. I also follow a lot of fine art photographers, and see their beautiful, still, calming pictures of kids the same age. You know these pictures, the young boy in a wagon, or the little girl, hands folded, in a sunflower field. Many of my customers send them to me as ideas when we are planning shoots.

Then picture day comes. And while we do do the posed shots, 10 times out of 10 it’s the off-script shots that win the day.

Sometimes I wonder, is it me? Am I just not patient enough to get the “fine art” shot? Lord know, patience is not my strong suit. However, the more I do this, the more I am 100% convinced that if you can capture who the person is on the other side of the camera, that will make the shot that much more powerful.

One of the greatest compliments I think i can get is when a customer says: I cannot stop looking at these pictures. I just keep going back. Then I feel I have captured the personality of the person that they love. As I have said before, to me that has very little to do with the person behind the camera, and far more to do what the soul of the other.

Here is some pictures of a recent session with sweet Charlie. This family, btw, was all about letting Charlie be himself. And what a fun little man he is.