How To Manage Unruly Kids in a Photoshoot

When I pull out my camera for a photo shoot, our kids start fighting for attention.

I have a system that I go through. I usually photograph Olivia, my daughter, first. Olivia has the shortest attention span and if I want to get great shots of her, my best chance is to catch her in the first few moments.

Next, when Susan’s youngest, Sophia, sees Olivia getting attention, (and Olivia starting to get bored,) she starts begging for her turn. Sophia is a smart little monkey and loves to get positive attention when the other girls are misbehaving.

Then, once Sophia is finished, I pull in my “pinch hitter,” Susan’s oldest daughter Julia. As the oldest, Julia is usually the easiest to work with, takes more direction, and poses patiently for me.

(And when I need to shoot my son Jackson, I try to photograph him at a different time entirely. It just makes my life so much easier.)

One of the main problems I have during photo shoots is the girls jumping in and interrupting each other during their individual shots.

On Monday, we took our girls to choose some new swim suits for a promotion we’re doing for Triple Flip.

The girls were all in fantastic moods since Triple Flip is their all time favourite store. (If only they were always as enthusiastic during all our shoots.)

I followed my usual system and got some shots of Olivia first.