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I did a favor for a woman who works with my wife. She wanted a family portrait done for Christmas - her family is her, her 11 year old son, and her dog, "Poochie".
The dog was generally well-behaved, but of course, you can't tell a dog to look at the camera. When I did get a shot of the dog with its face up, "mom" was looking down at the dog. Seriously - I shot 48 frames. Not a single one was useable. Either the dog was looking off-camera, or the mom was looking down at the dog, or the son was giving me his best "can we get this over with please" look.
Fortunately, I shot from the same camera position with the same lights for all the shots, so I was able to composite a few images to get a passable one. But DAMN! No more family portraits with animals!!
I feel your pain. My wife's family wants a picture taken every year when we get together for the holidays. This year that means three couples, one toddler, and three dogs. We're going to be visiting for 5 days; it'll take me that long to paste things together enough to get half the folks looking somewhere near the camera. haha
I use a toy squeaker...can usaually find them at party stores, flea markets, etc, usually works for a few frames with toddlers and I've never had it fail to get a dogs perfect heads up at least once. People on the other hand....
But I gotta think how bad I am gonna feel very soon..
later this week.. (17th, 18th, and 19th), I have to set up my lights and everything at the office of our apartment complex. They are giving a free 5x7 to every apartment. I have to shoot all the images and then provide the prints. If I can sell any additional pictures or sets/packages... I make money..
The management is paying me one months rent to spend three days in the complex office to do the shots. and so far.. only 8 have signed up.. 5 on thursday, 2 on Friday and one on Saturday..
oh well.. we all gotta do the stuff to pay the rent.
Unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, our complex has been over run by some very low income people and families.. so I am not looking to make much money. Darn...
My experiences taking pix of kids have been fine - well, the kids have been fine. The parents are another story.
I took pix of my neighbor's baby. They brought him over in a basket - aw, how cute. Well Junior decided that picture taking time was the perfect time for a nap. Of course, Mom and Dad disagreed. They stood on either side of me clicking and clucking until Junior had had enough and began bawling!
I suggested that they reschedule for another day and time when Baby was rested and feeling good. They insisted he'd "be fine as soon as he screams it out." They were right. He fell asleep.
The parents didn't understand why the pictures didn't turn out cute like the ones "Walmart takes." I offered a re-shoot at no charge as long as their kid was rested.
Then there was the mom who stood behind me and kept coaching her two boys to "say cheese".... gawd...
you need a little wooden train whistle to blow when your ready to shoot to get the dogs attention, mother should know to look at the camera at all times. But being the type of guy you are your always helping someone out. Your blessings will come, don't change.
In my career of doing at least a little of everything, I did run a family portrait studio for about 6 months right out of college. One thing I can tell you, and which has been confirmed by some other experiences over the years, is that sometimes the low-income folks will spend more money than you would think on something like this. First off, they're getting a nice sitting for free. Second, they want to have pictures of their family. Family can be very important to them and they may not have much else in the way of a family gift, so do your best and ty to make the print prices as reasonable as you can.
IP: 69.15.101.106
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