I wear many hats.  Homeschooling mom, photographer, wife, fitness instructor...but today, I'm going to help mamarazzi's avoid one of the biggest mistakes when taking pictures of their kiddos.  

  If you've visited my website or my facebook page, then you'll notice that I photograph a lot of kids.  In fact, they're my favorite subject to photograph.  Yet one of my biggest challenges is overcoming the "cheese" face. No matter where I go, I usually see at least one mom or dad, belligerently demanding that their child say "cheeeeeeeeeeeese" and look directly into their camera or iPhone.  Every time I witness the child comply and make the most pained, fake smile, I cringe.  How we've all been brow beaten into doing something so ineffective just baffles me.  Before I knew what I was doing, I demanded my kids say cheese, too.  What gives?

  A long time ago, someone noticed that emulating the "eee" sound with the mouth produces a lift in the edges of the mouth; a pseudo-smile.  Notice that I said "emulating" not "making" the "eee" sound.  (Dang, that was a lot of quotations!)  Most people don't know how to pose their faces which is why catalog models get paid to smile professionally.  For all the normal people out there, a real deal smile is the way to go.  Actually saying cheese doesn't create a smile.  It creates kids who hate to have their photo taken and parents who get really frustrated when their kids pictures look bad.   You'll never get a real smile out of a kid, or an adult for that matter, by saying cheese.

 So what's the ls the solution, you ask?  (You did ask, right?)  Talk to your kids!  Ask them about funny stuff in their lives.  Tell them dumb jokes. Make inappropriate noises (you know what I'm talking about).  And if they don't look at you, who cares?  Some great shots are made when a kid is happily playing and not looking at the camera.  So do yourself (and me, when I'm shooting your kids) a favor and never teach them to say "cheeeeeeeeese".  You'll be so glad that you did!