A while back, a family of thirteen came into our studio to be photographed. The family consisted of a mother and father and eleven children. The children ranged in age from six months to sixteen years old. It was quite a sight to see so many kids, so close in age and to know that they came from the same mother and father. It was a joyful sight that not many get to see in this day and age. The children were for the most part well behaved. Something I have noticed with families that are large in size such as this, is that they normally are for the most part, very well behaved and orderly.
It is the families with one or two children that have kids that are completely out of control and wild. It is rarely the families with a half a dozen children to a full dozen that have this problem. I think that if parents had one, two or three children that were completely insane, it would be hard to see them with ten or twelve children that act the same way. They would probably protect themselves from letting themselves have any more children.
Anyway, I used to get nervous when I knew I was going to photograph large groups such as these realizing that normally in these circumstances I would have to photograph at least two to three very young children at the same time, rather than just one or none at all for that matter. In fact in this family there were five children that were six years old or younger. I began to pose the family in a nice configuration that I thought would make them look nice and organized and appealing. A nice large base of about five to six members of the family and slowly building a pyramid from there.
It only (the word ONLY is being used sarcastically) took twenty to thirty shots to get one to two decent shots. I say sarcastically because normally this can be obtained in eight to ten shots of groups that are smaller, let’s say in the size range of three to five. The main issue here was not their size, nor was it their discipline level, yet it was the large number of small young members that were not completely understanding of being on their absolute best behavior and cooperating to their best to get the shot most effectively and quickly. So getting them to cooperate was a challenge. I used all the tricks I had up my sleeve. The trick with a group like this is being engaging and entertaining for the two year old toddler and also being funny enough for the cool sixteen year old brother to smile and of course everyone in between.
Have ever seen the movie “Cheaper by the dozen” with Steve Martin? Imagine trying to get all those to smile and look happy at the same time and get the best expressions. It would obviously be a challenge. The likeliness that they would be on top of their game and have the attitude to do a good job and try to look happy would not be likely, so as a portrait photographer there is the need of being a comedian too. In fact, I get asked often if I am a stand up comic as well. I usually reply by doing a back flip, landing in a split and waving my spirit fingers excitedly in the air as I, in shortness of breath, answer “Huh?” .
Anyway, getting back to the subject, I finally decided that we had gotten a few decent shots, but the very youngest children were getting distracted, irritated and not being cooperative anymore, so I decided to get a humorous image. I told everyone on the count of three to give me their funniest expression. I got everything ranging from tongue sticking out to eyes crossing, to the young 18 month old girl sitting in daddy’s lap trying to escape with a distressed look on her face. But by far the funniest expression was mom’s, who had a confused, stressed, quirky, half smile, half crying look on her face. It was real. It was funny. It was real funny. It reminded me of a cartoon where everything that could go wrong did and all that’s left is the main character looking at the camera with a lost and distorted look. It was a photo that made me laugh every time I looked at it. They did end up purchasing a copy of it, though it wasn’t the main photo they chose, but I think that I was the fact that it was a memorable photo and it made you remember that photo session vividly that was the reason it should have been taken and therefore it should have been purchased and displayed for all to see.
These moments are what make my job the real joy that it is and makes my job so enjoyable. I can only imagine what life is like at home for this beautiful and unique family of thirteen.
say cheese!
