Portraits in Mass

I recently shot the school portraits for a preschool and private kindergarten.  That, my friends, is a whole different experience.  If a portrait session is a long jog through the park, then school photos are a run-for-your-life sprint.  :-)  It's fun to run fast.  It also knocks me out.  Running analogies too cheesy?  I'll blame it on my husband's influence.

Every shoot has it's challenge.  With school portraits it's time.  Er, lack of time.  You have less than a minute per child to nail the photo (budget your time for the class photo...you're gonna need it).  Child won't smile?  Then you best get creative and make a fool of yourself to get the child to laugh.  I don't know too many parents who want school portraits of an unhappy face, closed eyes, or the Lost in Space look.  I know I don't.

It was fun to exercise different muscles.  It was a lot of fun to edit through so many different, precious faces.  Even in a simple school portrait, there's a lot of the child's personality that comes through to the viewer.  It never ceases to amaze me how honest and open the face is a child gives to the camera.