Last year, I realized something extremely disturbing. You see, at the end of each year I go through all our photos and compile the "best of..." Yes, there are generally still hundreds, but at least I clear out the obvious
bad pictures. I usually choose my 12 favorite pictures of both of the girls and create a calendar for my parents. Well, Samantha has always not been super easy to photograph, but as she has gotten older, it has seemed even harder to get a good picture of her. And last year, as I went through our pictures, I couldn't even find 12 pictures of Samantha that were "good." I was heartbroken. Devestated.
Her future, like many of our kids, is so uncertain. What if all I have left one day are these pictures? And I can't find even 12 to sum up an entire year? I immediately save up money from my tutoring jobs and went out and bought a much better camera!
Yes with a camera that takes 7 shots a second, I have gotten a lot more pictures of Sammy that I adore. But she's still not all that easy to photograph.
Today on Pinterest (let's all give a prayer of thanksgiving for that wonderful little location on the web), I came across a fantastic article:
4 Tips for a Successful Session with Special Needs Children. The article is written more for professional photographers, but I these 4 simple tips can be useful to all of us...especially to those who have a DSLR or something similar to it. It's worth reading.
Again, it's hard to get pictures of our kids -- any kids really. But when you have a child who won't/can't smile on demand or won't sit still in a posed position, doing the whole picutre thing can be sad. (After leaving a JCPenney photo session one time, I felt so discouraged believing that I would never get a picture with Samantha and Callie together. Not one turned out. The only picture I bought was one when Sammy was crying as Callie hugged her. Not what I'd call a "successful" picture, but memorable nonetheless.) But when I do get a picture of Sammy that is
good -- so good that it's like seeing her real self -- her eyes shine and her smile is so full of joy...my heart swells up. And those are the pictures I want to hold if a time ever comes that I can't hold her.
So, read the short article, get some tips, and if you don't take the pictures yourself, ask your photographer to use some of the tips. It'll be worth it.
Witch Ring Toss 
Witch Pitch
Halloween Twister 
Pop! Goes the Pumpkin! 
Boo Bowling
Pumpkin Felt Board 
