Preparing for Your Children's Portrait Session

We have a few words of advice for parents before you come for your session... and we have one rule.

Advice

Our first word of advice is to call or come in for a pre-session consultation… at least for your first few visits. Portraits are more successful when we give some thought to what is the purpose of the portrait, and where will it be displayed; as well as things like clothing and props.

We also suggest that you prepare your child for the session, but don’t over-prepare! Sometimes children arrive shaking in their boots because Mommy has told them to, “Be good or else!” and sometimes they’ve been promised so many rewards for being good, all they can think of is getting done and going to McDonalds! The best preparation is to simply let them know that we’re going to visit a fun new place where there’s a silly guy who likes to have fun.

The ONE RULE

There is only one rule at Coonrod Photography:

At Coonrod Photography, we don’t say the word: S – M – I – L – E during a portrait session!

Why?

Think about it — do you remember school pictures and how awful they were? Remember the photographer who would tell you to “Say Cheese” or “Smile on 3…”

Even now, as an adult, can you produce a genuine smile on command? Unless you’re a trained actor or model, probably not.

Parents often tell us,

By this time you may be worried that you won’t have any smiles in your child’s portrait album, but a quick look at the images on this site should reassure you. It’s true, we don’t believe that “the only good portrait is a smiling portrait”, but we know that Moms and Dads do like to see pretty smiles. What makes our portraits unique is that you only see real smiles… none are fake or “put on”.

Fun

It goes back to what we said before — at Coonrod Photography your child will have fun during their session… and when you have fun, you laugh and smile for real!

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