“Okay, mom and dad…Stay right there and look at me the whole time, no matter what.”
“Alright boys, Simon says do 5 jumping jacks!”
“Simon says shake your sillies out!”
“Simon says take 5 steps toward me”
“Okay, Simon says take 3 steps back!”
“Simon says take 3 bigger steps!”
“Simon says stand on that leaf!”
“Okay great, Simon says hug your brother.”
“Simon says, okay swing your brother in one more circle and then stand still!”
“Simon says, relax your hands around your brother’s neck!”
“Simon says look at me!!”
When you have two little boys full of energy, sometimes it takes allllll of that for just one picture! But those prompts allowed me to capture one of my favorite images of this session! Can you figure out which one it is?
Sometimes the best results come from the sessions where the kids might not necessarily *want* their photo taken. It’s all about creating genuine moments to get them to smile or laugh. Our first scheduled session happened to be a cold, wet day in October, so we picked a new day in hopes of getting better weather that the kids would enjoy a little more, and boy, did we get lucky! It was a beautiful, sunny fall evening in Monona. We started at Winnequah Park – a family favorite – and then explored the Aldo Leopold Nature Center as the sun went down.
These boys were so full of smiles, laughter and silliness, and it was so much fun capturing their personalities. Our session called for a few bribes, games of pretend and rounds of Simon Says, but the pictures right after those moments are some of my absolute favorites. Scroll down to see some of the silly moments!
You get to see a lot of the finished products – the ones that make it look like, somehow, everyone was always cooperating and smiling right at the camera! Rarely do you get to see the more “genuine” moments that wouldn’t necessarily make it in the picture frames, but the ones that I think capture the most personality. Below are some of those silly moments from this session that just warm my heart. Sometimes you have to let the kids run around, take a break, or motivate them with a snack. A corn dog at Red Robin was a huge motivation for the youngest one in this family, and so we rolled with that all the way until the end! At one point, I asked him to pretend the lens on my camera was a corn dog, and I would say “Where’s your corn dog?!”, prompting a laugh and usually a point at the camera (scroll down for an example). These are the moments I love most!!
