My Mom is the director of Connections Preschool here in Raleigh.  Every year I go and take pictures of the kids for Mom and let me tell you… it’s not an easy task!  Preschoolers are a tough age… if they aren’t feeling like having their picture taken, they aren’t going to fake it like us grown ups have learned to do.  In a way I love this purity and honesty of emotion (we don’t always need to cheese it up when having our picture taken)… but it does not make the picture taking process easy!

This little guy was so not into the idea of getting his picture taken.  He wouldn’t crack a smile.  My Mom came over and started talking to this sweet man, trying to see what she could do to make him smile.   Instead of making silly faces or noises, she went straight to what she knew about him.  Mom started talking about things she knew he enjoyed, characters he loved.  It started working a little bit…

… and then?  Mom hit the jackpot of smiles (see the image below and try not to smile).  Smiles that were so big that your nose crinkles up.  What had Mom said to make this little man smile?  Mom started talking about this little boy’s brand new baby sister.  He was so tickled over how much he loved his new baby sister that he just could not stop this huge smile from taking over his entire face.

It was beautiful.  It was precious.  And it was the perfect illustration of a concept that we feel strongly about — you only TRULY, naturally smile about something or someone you love.  This is why we want to learn about your story before and during your shoots with us– so we can connect you back to your story in a way that makes you smile, helps you relax, and allows you to feel comfortable in front of our camera.  Obviously in this situation at Mom’s preschool I could not get to know a hundred students before their pictures… but I had someone on hand who DID know them all.  If it’s a family shoot or love/engagement shoot, we want to help connect you to the person sitting right there beside you that you love so much.  We strive to see that nose-crinklin’ smile infectiously take you both over