How To Isms

A Commercial Shoot with Babies and Props…the Craziest of the Crazy! (But so much fun!!) Or How to photograph your baby with a toy or gift that’s special to you

By Barbara Stitzer

All photos by Barbara Stitzer

This week, I had the opportunity to shoot photos for an adorable boutique clothing line called Bella and Gracies. Karen, the fabulous owner/designer had some super soft plush puppies that she wanted  to show the world,  so I lined up some of the most beautiful children known to mankind and we went to town. These tips can also be useful for those who want to take a picture of their children with the birthday or holiday toys that have been sent to them by family friends or relatives.

A couple of things that you should know about shooting babies: plan on a five minute shoot.  They might last longer, they might not make it to the party at all, but do your most important things first. This is hard for me, because I’m all about talking to people and making  friends first, and being silly and playing around, but  with babies and toddlers, you have to work fast. Plus,  either they like you or they don’t.   I’m fortunate enough to have my studio in my home, so I like to make sure that there are no weird smells when little people first come in for a shoot, so no garlic, onions, fish or strong smelling vegetables the night before. Also, this sounds kind of counterintuitive, but, greet everyone, and be polite, but don’t try to be besties  with the Littles before the shoot.  Before I had children, I just wanted babies in my life so badly, I maybe even wanted to show myself how incredible I’d be as a mom, and I think that the kids smelled  that desperation steaming off of me, and would start shrieking uncontrollably, which inevitably led to little red faces  dripping with drool and snot, not exactly what you want in a photograph for sure. Plus, a lot of kids get dropped off at home daycares or babysitter’s homes, and cry because Mommy is leaving, so just kind of smile at them, say hi, and let them know that Mommy is staying. I’m a hugger, but take it from me, Don’t reach for the baby, don’t even touch his foot. Talk to Mommy for a bit about just about anything, and then get to the studio. Make sure that you are shooting after naptime and when the baby is well fed when they get there, too.  I usually have music playing, but this week, I  must have forgotten to turn it on, so I just shot without it. Some parents insist that their kids do better without them in the room, but for this kind of thing, there is NO WAY that you can do it alone.  Tell the parents that they will probably get sweaty and that both of them will want to take a nap afterwards and dive in.

Mommy Positioning.

Make sure that  Mommy is very close to the baby, almost in front of the baby so that it looks like the baby is looking at the camera when she really is looking at Mommy.  It’s cold in Ohio, so I try to keep the babies off the ground, unless they are in the sitting and maybe about to crawl stage, in which case, I put them  on the floor so that they don’t have very far to fall. Oh my, I can feel your disapproving look… It’s not like they fall, It’s so that Mommy isn’t scared that they will fall. Because if Mommy is scared, then the baby will be scared, too!!

Some babies like to be gently  bopped on the head with stuffed animals. I usually ask first, then get really close to the baby, and come up with something that would bring the intelligentsia set to their knees, like “aaaaaaahhhhh-BOOP!” and touch their face with the softness. It usually takes about three or four times to see what they’re really going to do, so I do it twice, give it to Mommy and grab my camera. Baby smiles are FAST, it’s hard not to get caught up in all of the adorableness of the moment, so shoot fast and let the booping work its magic.  You can usually get ten to twenty boops off before the baby gets tired of the game.

Prop Positioning

I should mention that it’s a good idea to Boop with something other than the product that you’re photographing. Position the prop so that it faces you and shot the parents what you need to show. In this case, the doggies had adorable floppy ears, unique eyes and a bow to show.  If you give the prop to the parent without instructions, they will give it to the baby face first, and the camera won’t be able to see the face, plus the baby will put it in his mouth and then you’ll have a whole new set of problems.  After the Booping stage is over, the baby is usually in a great mood. You have about two minutes to position your product and shoot it fast, keep cooing to the baby, of if it’s a toddler, tell him how brilliant and amazing he is, have her tell you who their friends are, what their going to do for their birthday, anything to keep their mind off the dreaded Limburger …you know, “cheese”!

Eventually, they will find out how much fun it is to throw the prop in the air or drop it from their chair, and that is when your shoot with props is over, so shoot FAST, be patient,   and have fun. Send me your baby photos to barb@barbstitzer.com, and we’ll get better together!

Lexee

It's funny how things happen sometimes...Lexee is a beautiful senior who lives in Anthem but goes to boarding school in Utah. Her Grandmother, Bonnie is from Minot, North Dakota, where I lived from the time I got married in 1996 until 2003, and she somehow remembered me until now, when she trusted me with the sweet Lexee. I love it when things come together!! How fun is that?!

Baby Brooke

Baby Brooke was one of those babies that you would pray for if you were doing a demonstration on how to shoot a baby and keep her happy. Nothing bothered her! She had outfit changes, hair bow changes, mommy put her down and she didn't even cry...shoooo-eee! There was a moment when she was laying on her tummy, and she just started belly laughing so hard! A little 5 month old belly laugher...charming! What a little beauty, too! I love babies!

American Spa Magazine Shoot

This week I was priveleged to shoot an ad for Dream Innovation's Matt Murdock, an Anthem massage therapist, who has innovated several new massages and teaches his techniques to massage therapists all over the world. Matt is my massage person, and his butterfly massage, shown above, is truly amazing, so I was very excited to shoot it, but terrified, that so many people are going to want his services after seeing his ad that he won't be available for me when I need him! Our beautiful and exotic model, Spencer, is local superstar business SWEAT's own Josh and Laura Roger's babysitter. Laura, after three kids, could be a model herself, she's just too sweet and self effacing to do it. :) Spencer, will be going to ASU in the fall, to become a physician's assistant. She's so going to dominate that school, thanks to her incredible, sparkling personality, and drop-dead gorgeous looks, both of which seem to come directly from her equally beautiful and sweet mom, Rulla, the director of catering at the Biltmore, which you would never guess because she's so tiny, whom I immediately clicked with because we had all of these funny, obscure things in common, like that we both got married at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel! We did several shots for both Matt's butterfly and rain massages. I really like a deep massage, as intense as you can get it, and the butterfly is beyond intense, so I tried to reflect it in the look and feel of the pose, lighting and expressions, which was pretty easy, because Spencer has that kind of dark intensity, and Matt knows exactly what to do. You would think that laying on a massage table and getting a massage for four hours would be a breeze of a modeling assignment, but think again...think about how when you lay down, your face smushes and kind of turns into the sheet, so the fabulous Spencer had to almost hover her face above the table so that it was just glancing the sheet and turn her face way up and away from it so that you could see her eyes. Good thing Matt was there to get the kinks out! I never let models see pictures direct from my camera, just in case there are blinks or awkward positioning, but Rulla had to leave and Matt was giving Spencer a ride home, so they both stayed and saw everything...I shouldn't have worried, because in the shots where Spencer was blinking, she just giggled about it, totally non self conscious, gotta LOVE that!! How refreshing. Just like I was the one to get the massage. Hmmm, I think I'm going to book my next massage with Matt right now!

Emerson

When Emerson's totally chic and beautiful mom told me that she was usually pretty stoic for pictures, I just smiled... kids love my rose petals and little kid sized chairs and stuff that I have around, and in 17 years of shooting, I have never left a smile behind, so I do have my little tips and tricks, but I had my secret weapons...my daughters, Zoe and Tenley! Little kids LOVE older kids, so it wasn't long before Emerson was going for it...and go for it she did! She slid through the rose petals like a pro baseball player, and jumped and twirled all around, throwing rose petals with the girls. Daddy, a hockey league commissioner, got big points, too...although he eyed our super chexx hockey game machine with longing, he was right in there to give love, throw rose petals, and shake his groove thang, all to catch Emerson's interest. I just love seeing daddys with little girls!

Annabelle and June

I adore little girls. I have two of my own, of course, but all of a sudden, they are gigantic, huge behemoth girls, losing teeth and getting dental appliances all over the place, so when Annabelle and June came in for a photo shoot, I found myself getting nostalgic. Annabelle, the little strawberry blonde, crawls everywhere on her elbows and forearms, commando style, like she's a little army girl, going through basic training in Da Nang. She's the smiley-est little sprite ever, and I was treated to watching her joy when she stood just holding her mom's finger for the first time...these moments are SO fleeting...by the time I delivered the proof for their hand painted gallery wrap, two weeks later, she was walking already! June is a delicate, tiny fairy dancer, with giant soulful eyes and perfect little kewpie doll lipe, who really had a ball busting a move all around the town and avoiding the camera...until the tiny stool came out. I don't know why, but the tiny stool has gotten me out of all kinds of woes...everyone just wants to sit on it. Even I want to sit on it. It's just so cute and ...tiny! I don't know what I'll do if it breaks...I can see myself running into the night, screams of "I should have stocked up on tiny stoolssssssss....." echoing in the night. Annabelle and June's mom and grandma and I had a great time picking photos...how could you not with these gorgeous little girlies? Grab your children and hug them, guys...the time really does go wayyy too fast.

Austin's Senior Rep Pictures

As you know, most of the time, men don't like having their pictures taken, but women do, and I don't necessarily like to wrestle guys that I don't know who hate me on sight, so I've always just taken the easy way and avoided shooting guys as much as possible. Until Austin, who basically took any preconceived notion that I had about shooting guys and dumped them out the window. And now I'll shoot the dudes once again.

This guy was such a natural, he moved so well, everything he did was right. Take, for example, the blue and white shot directly above...I'm here to tell you, no one looks good with their head way to the side like that. Except Austin, who looks to me like James Dean in that shot, then moves on to Chase Crawford in the shot in the blue glass, then the boy next door on the steps. That is one heck of a versatile face. And a heck of a nice guy as well, which I almost didn't have the opportunity to find out.

Let me tell you the story: Ok, first of all, if you know me, you know that I'm obsessive about time. I'm ALWAYS early. I'm the one turning on the lights for the people who work there kind of early. And I live and die by my Blackberry. My "a" and "s" key had fallen off of my Blackberry Pearl, making it really hard to type just about everything, and I wrote Austin down for "tuedy" and I assumed my s and a were missing and the "r" had turned to an "e" and I meant Saturday, since I shoot mainly on weekends, so I went down and waited for him on Saturday, and called and left messages, but they didn't get the message, as their house phone was having problems, so then they waited for me on Tuesday, which was when our appointment was, but of course, I wasn't there, which is my total fear, and why I am always early, especially to photo shoots, when everything has to be as perfect and stress free as possible, because having your picture taken is kind of stressful. Anyway, they called and left a message, and when I got the message, I freaked out, since I have NEVER missed a shoot, EVER. After we got it all straightened out, they were kind enough to give me another shot, and I was wise enough to get another phone so that little trick wouldn't happen again, but I was kind of worried, like, you know, they hate me already, what's going to happen? But when Austin, and his mom, Lisa, who looks like a prettier Teri Hatcher, walked in, and their smiles lit up the room, I knew that everything would be all right.

We started the shoot in some smooth rocks, typical guy shoot...kind of safe and nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. But when we moved on to a rock in the water, something just clicked on in both of us, and we just had a very fun wild ride to Austin's Model side. Somehow, everything that Austin did just looked way current, like on American Idol when they update a song and make it their own...Austin updated poses and made them his own. He just blew it out of the water. He became 40 different people. Every time he looked at the camera, it was to catch another new angle of his face. It was just fascinating to see how many looks he has. It was a totally fun day; it made my job feel new again, which, after 17 years, is a definite bonus.