I love taking pictures of children. I love their smiles, adorable outfits, and the amazing amount of vitality and life that shows up in their pictures. Taking pictures of children is one of the rewarding things that I do as a photographer. It is also one of the most difficult. The sheer amount of energy that little kids possess combined with all the fascinating distractions around them make it difficult for them to look at the camera when they are supposed to, especially in a posed setting. The more children in the shot, the more difficult it can be to get them all looking the right direction.
I love having parents around, as they often know what to say or do to make their children smile and look around. However, here is an important tip to make your children's pictures come out well-
If we are having trouble getting everyone to look in the right direction, before you starting waving your arms, making funny noises, and saying "look at the camera! look at the camera!" consider where YOU are standing. 99% of the time they are going to be looking at YOU, so in order to make sure they are looking in the camera's direction, you want to be standing directly BEHIND me. Otherwise they may smile, laugh, and open their eyes nice and wide, but the majority of the time they are going to look at the source of all this entertaining distraction, instead of at the boring camera lens pointed in their direction.
Thus, remember the rule- unless you are standing DIRECTLY BEHIND the photographer, it might be best to just let me be the entertaining distraction. Parents often are the best people to bring out an awesome smile, but unless you're standing in the right place, it doesn't quite work. If it's not practical to be directly behind me due to space constraints, let me do all the work. I am more than happy to make funny faces, weird noises, jump up and down, and generally make a complete fool of myself in order to get everyone to look at me. It's in the job description. The problem comes when I am just one of a crowd of people jumping up and down making funny noises. :)
Of course, this only applies if we're looking for shots where they ARE looking directly at the camera... sometimes it's great when they are not.
Look at me! Look at me!
in Kids
After Mike and Crystal's formal shoot there were still a couple of shots that we had planned that we didn't end up having time for, so Crystal and I ended up shooting a second bridal session. We started out with a couple of fields near Pleasant Grove, and then headed on up to Thanksgiving Point to shoot in their reception areas. It was a BEAUTIFUL setting... I literally felt I could shoot there all day and still come up with new places and shots to take. 
This was the first time I had taken a bride and groom out to Saltair, and I was definitely excited there were so many awesome places to take pictures. We ended up taking a few pictures at the Salt Lake temple and then got to Saltair for the last hour before sunset. Mike brought his guitar and we got some nice personality shots. The sunset was gorgeous!!!
Grant & Rachel have been dating a couple months, and we had a lot of fun taking some pictures at Saltair. This was a trial run for a bridal shoot I was doing the next day for some clients, and I wanted to see what locations I liked best at the venue. I posted an offer to do a free shoot at the last minute and Grant & Rachel happily jumped at the chance for some fun non-engagement photos. :) I've known Grant for years as a part of the lindy hop community here in Utah, and it was fun to be able to take photos of a friend. They both have a great sense of style!
Keith and Jamie's reception was beautifully situated in Jamie's backyard. It was in Kamas, so it meant that my husband Thomas and I were able to take a wonderfully scenic drive up to the venue. The backyard was gorgeous- there were beautiful decorations everywhere, lots of trees, a brook and a tall field with some of the biggest dandelions I have ever seen!
Jamie and Keith had a beautiful day for their wedding at the Mt Timp temple. It was a really fun group, and I had a wonderful time shooting with Katie Clover who was assisting me that day.
We ended up taking Jamie's bridals here in American Fork, and we actually started off shooting outside of the Olive Garden! :) It had a really fun look, and worked out to give us some very fun backgrounds. After that we headed up to around Mt Timp temple (where Jamie and Keith are to be married shortly) and took some photos in the area around there. Jamie is an amazing athlete and loves to be outdoors, and has chosen to sport her (very comfy) running shoes for both her bridals and for the wedding day. I loved it!
