Great light and an unwilling model

What do you do when you have great light and an unwilling model? Photographers who have children will understand the frustration one has when there is amazing LIGHT (!!!) and nobody but our (unwilling/irritable/I’m-playing-on-my-phone/Xbox) children around to photograph in this amazing LIGHT! LOL We’re the bane of our children’s existence; their unwillingness to pose for photos is the bane of ours!I managed to coerce Master M to come out for photos while I played around with backlighting and lens flare, but he’d only come out if he could keep watching videos on his iPhone!! >.< Who was I to complain? I was getting a model and I could move him around without having him complain *too* much as he was more concerned about the gaming video he was watching :P

Then this happened – this kid cracks me up! :D

It’s all part and parcel of being a photographer mum. I’ve lamented this very thing before on this blog. Children of photographers aren’t the keenest subjects (although my younger one seems more likely than the older one) so perhaps these are phases one has to contend with. I remember Matt loving the attention and playing happily while I got candids and posed shots when he was younger. It’s harder now, so I take any chance I can to get shots of my boys! I was pleased that he was fooling around enough for me to get this last one. This is my son. Truly. He has such a wonderful personality. I just wish he didn’t hide it underneath all his pre-teen-ish-ness (is that a word???!!! I’m making it one! :P)

Have I asked this before? Do you struggle to get pics of your children? What works for you? ~ Gill