I found a book of Annie Leibovitz's photography.
She is a documentary style photographer well know for her photos of celebrities.
(The naked John Lennon with Yoko Ono and the naked, pregnant Demi Moore are just two.)
I wanted to share her thoughts on forcing a smile for a photo.
"Where did 'smile for the camera' come from? It's a tic. A way of directing attention to the camera. 'Look at the birdie'. The smile is a component of family pictures. Mothers don't want to see their children looking unhappy. My mother would hire a local photographer to make a family portrait and he would inevitably ask us all to smile. They were canned smiles. Forced. In the fifties, everything was supposed to be OK, although half the time it wasn't OK. It took me years to understand that I equated asking someone to smile with asking them to do something false."
Taken from "Annie Leibovitz at Work" by Annie Leibovitz, 2008
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I have always felt this way about photographing people. I prefer to capture moments as they unfold and get true reactions and feelings from people that tell their story.
Documentary-style photography.
I think moms have an advantage over anyone else when it comes to photographing their children.
Moms reallllly know their kids. Their routines, their feelings and those quirky things our kids love to do.
This is one of my favourite times of the day.
7:00am - outside with my youngest, our dog and a cup of coffee.
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