I’ve just wrapped up the Rascals to Rebels photo sessions for Holiday and it feels good to delivery so many amazing pictures of the cutest kids around!  I love to see people use the images for their cards and giving as gifts…so fun!  Here’s a few favorites from the second weekend.

Oh and if you’re a photographer, I’m selling this backdrop for $75.  First email gets it! (info@kristineldridge.com).  It measures about 54 by 54″…I will be taking it off the frame, so it’s a big piece of moss covered canvas with berries and lights that you just plug in at the bottom.  Staple it to your own frame like I did or hang it from a backdrop stand.

Winter of 2009…they drove for over an hour and we were racing the sun.  I told them to arrive happy and we’d make the most of our time.

You don’t need time, all you need is the right attitude.

When I was first starting out, I remember watching a photographer that I admired and it was shutter click after shutter click, hundreds of them.  For those of us that grew up with film cameras, it’s a transition from the feeling of being limited to the amount of film you have on hand.  Digital blows all that out of the water.  I know there are people who stick to their guns about really contemplating each shot, framing it perfectly and not going home with loads of junk images that never see the light of day.  But, people, I photograph children. And they do not wait for me to frame them perfectly and they also don’t care how many images I ‘waste.’  Sooo, I fire away.  I keep shooting the entire session.  Even when I feel like I’ve got the shot, I try to squeeze in just one more good one.  Sometimes, it’s when the camera leaves my face that the stars align and everyone relaxes into the perfect shot.  Let’s just say I have a quick trigger finger. 🙂

I also shoot during the get-to-know-you that happens at the beginning of a session.  I’ll be talking to the child, asking them questions, raising the camera to my face, then back to chatting and so on.  Once we get into a groove, the natural expressions just start rolling.  Sometimes, kids like to take a new smile ‘out for a test drive’.  They’re not really sure what I want from them, so they just start trying things out.  I’ll even show them the back of my camera…of course everyone loves to see themselves.  We just keep talking and interacting until BOOM that look, you know the one I’m talking about, it just happens and I know I’ve got the shot.  And that’s when I’m glad I didn’t give up.