Photo Shoot: Part 3 (and some pointers from me!)

I wanted to share a few more pictures form our little photo shoot at my uncle's barn a couple of weeks ago as well as a few things I learned that might help you with your own photo shoots.

This was the first real "Photo shoot" I attempted with the kids. I mean, obviously I am always taking pictures of them but I actually scheduled this one and planned ahead what I was going to do. 

 I also followed some of Maegan's advice on taking your kids' portraits; I let them know when/what/where it was going to be ahead of time and tried to make it sound like it was going to be a fun thing and a special day for them.

What I did wrong:
I wanted to get an early start before it got too hot and before the sun was way too bright...well, I didn't.
I wanted to be at our "location" by 9:30 but it was more like 10:45.

I had a hard time finding something to take for Wyatt as far as a toy/something to play with.
I asked him to pick something but he didn't so I didn't really have anything for him to do.
Wyatt plays with a lot of different toys and is interested in a variety of activities but I just couldn't come up with that one thing to bring along.
Next time I would buy something new for him and give it to him when we got there, nothing big... just something different/new that would hold his interest as he was bored fairly early on.


What I did right:
Brought extra clothes and a few props: blankets, baby doll, books, cars and play cupcakes.
They ate a snack and had a drink ont the way out there.

Candy worked great as a bribery/motivation. I thought the gum balls made a cute prop and doubled as a great bribe for Wyatt. He is only allowed to chew gum on occasion so he was pretty excited about getting to chew the gum once we were finished with the pictures. They kept him motivated to cooperate.

Charlotte's favorite thing ever are books. Books, books....any kind of books.
I grabbed a stack off of her book shelf and she just sat there and flipped through them on her own.
 I love vintage books and they made a cute prop, most of all, books are the first thing I think of when I think of Charlotte.

So there ya have it... just a few things that did work for me and a couple things I will do differently next time.
Happy shooting to you! I will share some more pictures of Wyatt next time.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and is enjoying a lazy Sunday.