It meant I almost didn’t get to meet and photograph these two little superstars.  E broke her wrist on the day of our scheduled shoot and would be in a cast for several weeks.  I called E’s mom in between shoots that day to see how she was doing and sure enough, as kids tend to be, she was resilient and bouncing back already.  So I got to see her and her baby sister a few weeks later for our mini session after all.  And I am so glad I didn’t miss out on these two beauties. 

By now you can tell that these girls have uh… been in front of a camera once or twice before.  Their mama loves photos so they are naturals… they pose, they smile and bat their eyelashes on cue… a photographer’s dream.  And then it’s time to capture the real deal.  Oh, don’t think I don’t know it when I see it.  I have kids too and I can spot the cheese smiles a mile away.   But I snap away anyway… and I wait.  I wait until I can find and draw out (if necessary) the genuine look.   Sometimes I get real quiet during a session and I don’t say much at all.  I imagine some parents might be thinking “uh-oh, something’s wrong!  Is it not going well?”

That’s not it at all.  Silence can work wonders sometimes.  Sometimes you (well, I) just need to shut up and listen.   We were wrapping it all up and I knew I didn’t have her yet.  Not the her I knew I could capture anyway.   Mom was busy packing up little sister and we spoke very softly, almost whispering.   Then we had a quiet moment.  And then…I snapped the last frame of our session.