Behind the Scenes – What Really Goes on at a Toddler Photo Shoot?

So, you’re thinking you’d like some photos of your family. You want to remember those special times while your children are still young, cute, and innocent!

Innocent you say?

One of the packages I offer is a ‘Toddler photo shoot mini session’ which is available as either a 40-minute session or a 1 hour session. In comparison to my ‘Sitter mini session’ (for babies that can sit, but are not yet crawling) I have added on extra time and for this I charge a little bit more. This is because……..toddlers can be a bit of a challenge to photograph. There, I said it!

Let’s just say…if they’re not in the mood, they’re not in the mood…and they don’t half make sure we know about it!

I have a lot of parents who turn up with their 1 – 4-year-olds, all smiles. They walk in a little nervous, ‘’Oh I hope they sit nicely for you’’. “Don’t worry’’ I say, ‘’We’ll get something’’. And that’s the thing, I will get something – because even if they aren’t looking at the camera, toddlers are so damn cute anyway that they actually don’t even need to be looking at the camera to absolutely nail a shot. As I’ve said before, the natural, un-posed images are my favourite and much truer to my artistic style. Below are some of my favourite shots of toddlers not looking at the camera.

Of course, some photos of your child looking at the camera would be nice and believe me when I say I will try my best to get some. I have a really good knack of being able to turn into some sort of crazy, jumping, all singing, all dancing lunatic to try and capture their attention. It’s also quite funny watching parents as they pull out their best dance moves.

The main thing I don’t want you to be…is stressed! When you enter my studio, my aim is for you to feel comfortable and hopefully relaxed. As a mum of 2 children (my son is 1 and my daughter is 2) I know what little ones are like. My daughter regularly has tantrums over the most ridiculous things such as ‘‘the cloud is moving’’ – seriously…I’m talking full on melt downs, legs kicking, screaming, red face - the lot! Believe me, I’ve seen it all and nothing will phase me. Of course, you only see the ‘perfect’ photos, the fully edited, post production images. Sometimes to get that 1 ideal photo it can take 5 minutes, sometimes is can take 45! Thats why I encourage you to book the longer session for a toddler photo shoot.

Take a look at these outtakes and the end result:

My studio is fully stocked with a yummy sweet jar - if my daughter hasn’t snuck in and stolen a few when I wasn’t looking! I often use sweets and food as bribery, yes I bribe! I have stickers – kids love stickers right!?! And I have a selection of toys for them to play with. I also love playing music – you wouldn’t believe the amount of times we’ve had Baby Shark (doo doo doo doo doo…sorry!) playing in the studio. I’ve also had the most unusual and often unconservative music playing – think full on gangster rap! But whatever gets your kiddiewinks happy is fine by me. They love it, and so do I!

There’s also the added problem of little ones and their runny noses/eczema and you can almost guarantee the day before their photoshoot they’ll fall over and graze their cheek. I can sort a lot of these issues out with a quick touch up in post-production – it’s a quick fix to get rid of little blemishes – so please don’t worry!

If you do book in for a photography session with me, rest assured I will be patient and kind. Please do not be embarrassed, do not think your child is unusual, or a ‘devil child’ – (not my term – a direct quote from a previous parent). Just relax and enjoy the experience of making memories with your little one.

Some of my favourites Toddler memes:

For more information on my Baby photo shoots and Toddler photo shoots get in touch here. You can also look at examples of my photography in my portfolio. My studio is based in Sutton in Ashfield, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK.

Thanks for reading!