I love kids. I especially love the hams. Photographing kids feels easier for me because they don’t worry about a double chin or showing their best side. And they are often endlessly fascinated with their own image staring back at them.

My favorite way to photograph kids is to get right up in their face, letting their personality come through. This technique can have pitfalls, of course, especially when they decide to be difficult. Here, let me show you what I mean…. This is Hayden, my nephew, one of my favorite photography subjects. He likes to be difficult, though. Too many times watching his mother and grandmother ducking the camera, I think.

Now this is a great photograph, you can see the joy on his face – he’s a thrill seeker just like his favorite aunt. But he doesn’t know I’m there and I know this because this is what I usually see…

Or this…

And then I settle for this….

But then I’m rewarded for my patience when he forgets to pay attention to me and I catch him doing this…

He’s hot and sweaty and exhausted…brat.

That’s the best thing about photography, you work at it and work at it and work at it…and then it just works.

What’s your favorite thing about photography, especially when kids are concerned? Do action shots make you happy, or are tantrums your favorite thing to capture?

Bri is a student trying to balance her country girl upbringing with her urban girl life. You can follow her adventures and laugh with or at her @ Under the Arch, her home away from home.