Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
I had been shooting Lamisa long enough to learn some basics of photographing a baby, especially a really unstable one.... that told me that photographing a preschooler is one of the hardest things to do... they have a mind of their own and would like to stick to it, whether it goes for you or against... they're mobile, so you may have to wait for a long time before they come back to your preferred location.... but there are some ways you can make progress.... sharing some of my experiences....
1. find her interests.... the faster you can figure this one out, the quicker it would be for you to accomplish this.... you may try to use your setup to get to know the baby.... you can build your relationship with the baby while you do this..... babies do love photographic equipment.... they're just too different from their boring toys!!
2. involve her.... make her feel that she is engaged in the whole process and doing some hard work.... Lamisa has interest in new attires... I try to use that to my advantage... every time I want her to pose in front of the camera, I tell her to get ready.... and she jumps into it!
3. have patience; lots of patience.... babies are restless.... they're very unpredictable and would change mind anytime.... but don't give up.... usually they do lose interest in one thing pretty quick.... and thats a good thing when you want her to come back.... you can never say that you can keep her in front of the lens for an indefinite amount of time.... this simply isn't going to happen....
4. be trigger happy!!...... you'll never get enough time to photograph a baby.... so, make the best use of time..... a frame takes a fraction of a second, so, take as many frames as you can when the baby is in the right place and in the right mood.... mind you, she can change her mind in a fraction of a second!
5. take help..... if you can have someone with you who can keep interest in the baby, do to advantage of that..... there's nothing more frustrating than sitting idle with the camera while the baby pursues something else!
setup for this shoot....
there are many other tips that other photographers have shared online.... but these are my findings regarding making a preschooler pose... I would also like to share some more learning regarding doing an actual shoot after you get the baby to pose in front of the camera....
the pics here are from a long backlog, which I started clearing almost a month back... and I'm glad that I'm almost at the end of it....
more to come soon.....
