If the goal for a photo session is authentic smiles, the we make it fun or go home!  Sometimes babies start the photoshoot a little skeptical and we end up with pretty serious faces.  This is the time to enlist parents.

Babies typically don’t connect with the black box in front of our face, so they need to start by seeing their parents’ faces.  The photographer is just along for the ride at this point, laughing along and showing the baby the camera isn’t scary.

At some point, babies will usually look at me, like “did you see what my dad just did there?” and I’ll get my own smile.  But, the emotion and excitement has to start with the parents first, not the photographer.

Here’s how we start…. (baby’s checking me out!)

Then we move to a parent moving in close getting baby to laugh.

Sometimes I’ll tell parents to do what they would typically do at home to make their baby laugh.

And if all else fails, flying high generally works too!