"Now That's Funny!"

Close-up facial expressions are often the most important element of great kids' photos.

Megan Maher, left, and her teammate laugh while taking a break during the Northern Westchester Swim Conference swim meet in Chappaqua, N. Y. (© Michael Maher).

The Photo:
My daughter Megan was so busy concentrating and having fun when she was participating in sports, she rarely noticed when I pointed the camera at her. At this swim meet, while waiting her turn to participate, she and a teammate were laying by the pool watching the races, when another swimmer started goofing around to make them laugh. This went on for several minutes, and I managed to photograph several expressions of Megan laughing with her teammate, but this was the best. One key to taking kid photos is getting them to ignore the presence of the camera. Fortunately, none of them -- Megan, her friend, other team members -- paid much attention to me, so I could concentrate solely on finding a great photo. If you station yourself in one place, and wait a few minutes, kids will typically start ignoring you. Megan also had a brief moment of fame when this was published in the local newspaper.

3 Tips:
1) Kids frequently show a wide range of expressions and emotions when doing even simple things like watching their friends.
2) Stand back with a medium or longer lens so the kids concentrate on what they are doing, and not you.
3) If you stay in one place and wait patiently, kids will get used to your presence, ignore the camera, and you can take spontaneous photos.

Low Bridge

Shoot a facial close up during kids' play and you'll have a terrific expression. 

Skateboarder can’t bear to look as he rides between his friend’s legs (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo: 
There’s not usually anything exceptional or interesting about a kid riding a skateboard down the middle of the street. However, as I walked to my car, I noticed a girl jumping into the air as her friend on the skateboard rode under her legs. As he went beneath her, he closed his eyes and grimaced, hoping she wouldn’t land on him. It was a very strong photo because his facial expression was so intense. I had to ask him to do it a couple of extra times to make sure I got the photo right and, without any prompting from me, he grimaced every time he went under her legs. Omitting the jumper's upper torso emphasized the skateboarder's expression even more.

3 Tips:
1) Normal play activity can be more interesting with close-ups of great facial expressions.
2) Look for any compelling expressions -- joy, intensity, fear, etc.
3) Your photo should capture both what the activity is and the kid’s face.  

“He’s Taking Our Picture”

Even a simple thing like kids whispering can make a great photo.

Hiding from the camera, a young girl converses with her friend during a St. Louis School public meeting in Lowell, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
There’s probably nothing more boring for a photographer than a public town meeting where the only thing happening is not very visual -- people making motions and rendering objections about local government issues. You usually end up with head shots of people speaking or gesturing with their hands. On this occasion, I was lucky that two young girls in attendance were having a great time conversing back and forth while their parents were paying rapt attention to the meeting. The girls didn’t want to make it easy to take their picture, so they covered their faces with their hands. I played a game of cat-and-mouse with them. They saw me point my camera and hid their faces. I put down my camera, and they talked with their faces visible, but when I raised my camera, they hid their faces again. This went on for awhile, but one girl stopped hiding her face as the other, still hiding hers, whispered that I was taking their picture.

3 Tips:
1) Children will express their personalities in the most unlikely situations, so be alert for a great photo opportunity.
2) If children make it difficult to take their pictures at first, be patient and persistent.
3) Watch for powerful children’s smiles or facial expressions that you won’t see on adults.

Overturned Shopping Cart

Kids are often so intense in their play activity that you can take photos without them even noticing.


Make-believe “king” directs his friendly subjects to pull their makeshift rickshaw, a shopping cart equipped with mattress and rope, until he leans back too far, the cart tumbles over, and they must right it to start over (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
Passing a school playground, I saw three boys playing with a shopping cart. I stopped and watched as they took turns letting one kid climb into the cart and get pulled along by the others. As I pointed my camera, one boy started acting like a king, ordering his subjects to pull him along. The other two boys pulled him extra quickly and extra hard, to get it moving very fast and teach him a lesson. As it raced along and they yanked it again, the cart fell back and the boy playing “king” fell backwards out of the cart. This gave me a funny series of three pictures -- the boy being pulled, the cart tipping as the boy riding in it fell out, and the three boys trying hard to right it. Either the first or last photo alone would be strong by itself, but the series told the most interesting story. I briefly interrupted to tell them I took the pictures and get their names, but they immediately went back to their fun, and my shooting turned out to be a minor interruption. I didn’t stick around to see if the “king” got revenge on his friends later.

3 Tips:
1) Spend enough time watching kids play to see if a great photo opportunity happens.
2) Try taking candid photos without the kids noticing you or interrupting their play.
3) Sometimes a series of photos tells a more compelling story than one single shot.

Bucket Basketball

Kids can be so clever and imaginative that sometimes all you have to do is shoot exactly what you see them doing.

James Cullen, left, tries to can a jumper over his friend David Dion as they improvise a game of basketball using a bucket, rope, and a ball in Lowell, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).



The Photo:
I accidentally came upon this photo while enroute to another event. These two boys created their own basketball equipment out of a bucket and a piece of rope, rather than walk all the way to a playground to find a real basketball hoop. They were very intense about their play, and only slowed down to retrieve the ball from the bucket when one of them made a shot. It was a creation very much like Dr. Naismith’s original peach basket. I stopped and used a long lens to shoot their play, so they barely noticed my presence as I photographed them from just across the street. They shot, jumped and rebounded aggressively, as if there was a lot at stake, and it made for a great picture when they treated this makeshift basket like a real one.

3 Tips:
1) Seek out photos of kids inventing new, creative ways to play.
2) Capture the physical intensity and body extension of kids when they are playing sports.
3) Watch for emotional facial expressions to make photos of physical feats even more powerful.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

See how shooting from just the right angle makes an impossible physical feat look real.

A young boy appears stretched across the car as his head emerges from one side and his brother’s feet from the other in Lowell, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).



The Photo:
I watched two boys playing energetically in a parked car for several minutes as I tried to imagine the best possible picture. Initially I couldn’t envision any particularly high potential photo opportunity, so I didn’t even take out my camera. Suddenly, one kid stuck his head out of the passenger window and the other hung his feet out of the driver’s side. For that split instant, you couldn’t clearly see the two separate bodies, and it looked like one kid was stretched horizontally across the entire car. The kids quickly moved on to other play, but that previous moment sparked a photo idea. I pulled out my camera and long lens, staying at a distance, but waited in vain as the moment did not reoccur. Finally, I walked up, asked them to do it again, stood further back framing the photo, and crouched down until the entire rear window was so dark you couldn’t see the shapes that revealed it was two kids, not one.

3 Tips:
1) Be patient to watch kids playing for awhile because they often provide completely unexpected photo opportunities.
2) If you miss a great photo moment, it’s OK to set the subjects up and ask them to do it again.
3) Use different angles or lighting to create additional effects or hide undesired details.