[Leica] Kidtips

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

> Mike
> Is that it?  You're just going to make a statement like that and leave
> me dangling like a participle (whatever that is).
> 
> How about some hints and tips.
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.


Well, I'm game to try, although I'm really not sure if I can be of any help
talking about it in words.

First of all, I'd distinguish between pictures made for money and pictures
made for yourself. When you're shooting for money, you have a certain
obligation to get the goods reliably and efficiently. So photographers in
this situation tend, to some degree, to fall back on certain tried and
tested strategies that are known to work...which does sometimes lead to a
certain sameness or "stock" character to the work. You've probably seen some
of the more extreme examples of this in any small-town portrait studio,
where a picture of anyone looks more or less the same--the same degree of
dressiness in the clothes and grooming, the same degree of posing, the same
backgrounds (more or less), the same degree of cheeriness (again more or
less). Pasteurized processed people product! Which is okay if that's what
you want (it's often what they want, which is why it's done).

In those situations there are various tricks to use. A few I can think of
offhand are: 
    --Get the parents out of the room (unless it makes the kid cry). Usually
the parents are anxious for the kind to behave and look good, and the kid's
radar hones in on the parent's anxiety and the kid gets tense.
    --Try asking them to stand on something they can't easily move off of. I
used to keep a small plywood cube in the studio for toddlers to stand on.
They'd climb up on it, balance, smile at me because they were happy they'd
managed to climb up on it and balance, and I'd get to rattle off a half a
roll while they weren't moving.
    --Be relaxed and at ease yourself, and spend about 90% of your time
relating to them, and only 20% shooting. Remember that this kkind of
photography is mainly about relating to the kid and getting the kid to relax
and slow down and be content. They're taking their cues from you, so making
yourself both interesting and friendly is the trick.
    --With small kids, it sometimes works to get the mother to hold the kid
on her knees, facing you, holding the child down by the waist so her hands
don't show, and then take a few shots every now and then when, by
prearrangement, she stops bouncing the kid for a few moments.
    --Another thing that sometimes works with small kids is to hold the
camera vertically in front of your right eye with your right hand, then play
"peek-a-boo"  by covering and uncovering your left eye with your left hand.
Not to brag, but I'm an expert in this esoteric photographic technique (long
practice <g>).

Actually, the kids who terrify me are adolescent boys. They're usually bored
with the whole idea and barely tolerant of the proceedings, and their faces
can project this eloquent ennui unceasingly throughout an entire session.
The willingness and interest of teenage girls in posing and being beautiful
makes up for this to some extent, but somehow that doesn't help while you're
waiting for the frowning parents of the boy to write out the "on delivery"
check.

Plus, girls can pose for hours on end; with boys, you typically have about
15 minutes and you're lucky if you get half an hour.

And then, of course, if you're doing it for art or for yourself, you can
work with a good deal more freedom. If "professional mode" predicts pictures
that reliably rank a 7, in amateur mode you can risk a bunch of zeros to get
that ooccasional elusive 10. Here, my advice would simply be to get down on
their level, be agile, shoot lots of film, and keep working it. I prefer to
not be limited to longer focal length lenses, both because I often find the
surrounding interesting in pictures, but also because a little extra depth
of field often helps.

Finally, if you're working with an M, the standard bits of advice probably
apply--keep off a bit past the close-focusing limit, so you're not banging
up against the limits of close focus too often, and fine-focus by moving
_yourself_ rather than by turning the lens. It's really much easier.

Hope this is of some small help. Mainly, I'd just like to encourage you by
pointing out that what you're trying isn't easy, even for professionals who
specialize in it. It's a tough shooting task. It takes some stamina, good
control of your attitude, good skills in relating to kids, and practiced
camera-handling skills. Keep at it!

- --Mike