When kids won’t cooperate

It is always a challenge when taking photos of little ones. There is a small window of opportunity before they realize that they would much rather be doing something else. In the case of the image below, I was taking a photo of my godson on his second birthday with his newborn baby brother. We managed to get him to sit down with his brother in his lap but less than two seconds later were done with that. This was the only photo I got before both of them were crying. A two year old and a newborn do not make a good combo for photos. You have to be fast and you also have to make sure the camera does not scare them. At that age having a big camera pointed at you can be kind of scary. I always try to disarm the child by letting them take photos with me before I take their picture. I let them help me take pictures of their Mom or Dad, that way they see it is safe and usually are more receptive to the idea. Keyword, usually.