A Passion for Photography (and how to take great photos of children) {Share Your Passion}

Today's guest post is from Megan Webb. She is sharing her passion for photography and giving us some tips to take great photos of children.

Photography has always been my passion. Possibly my earliest memory was when I was about 4 and I went to watch a TV commercial being filmed as my Dad used to write ads. I remember looking at the TV camera and being mesmerised by it... not exactly the camera I was to end up using, but I did work in Television for a couple of years in search of what I wanted to do with my life (thinking at the time, camera woman)!!

I also loved photos from a very early age. They were always an important part of our family. I was fortunate enough to travel alot growing up and we always came home with rolls of film that I couldn’t WAIT to have developed. My most exciting memories of my childhood were Dad leaving for work with a roll of film and then at night him coming home with PHOTOGRAPHS!! I’d spend ages looking at all the pictures, and it was early on that he decided to get doubles of each photo as I always wanted some to keep!

Photos meant that I could relive holidays, happy days, events etc over and over. I knew from early on how special they were. To this day I still feel the excitement of looking over images after we’ve had a BBQ with family, or been to a birthday, or when I’ve had a photography shoot, even with a family I didn’t know before that shoot!

I received cameras as presents over the years, my first was a little pink number, don’t remember make or anything but I treasured it and used it a lot! Then I had another two before getting a Nikon SLR from dad for a present (I was about 23 at the time). Because I wanted to utilise all the functions, I did my first course. It was how to work your camera (Camera Craft 1) at The Australian Centre for Photography. I learnt to use my camera in manual and make the most of it! But it wasn’t until 14 years later that I decided I wanted to take my passion a step further. It was when I was about 37 that I decided to start my own photography business.

I then did a few more courses and workshops and took the plunge and started taking on clients! I get a buzz every single time I do a shoot and I can get quite emotional seeing the love and happiness between families. Nothing gives me more pleasure than giving a family their photos and for them getting tears in their eyes because they love what they see. And what they see is the connection they have with one another and the love they have for each other. Even though it’s my “job” I feel like I’m giving them something so special.

And photos still play a very important role in my life. My living room is covered in framed photos and at least once a day I’ll stop and look at one or more of them.. I never ever get bored of looking at them. And I often can be found in my bedroom with one of my treasured photo albums from the past 40 years! My only problem now is that I don’t have enough wall space... we have talked about knocking down and rebuilding (probably not until kids have left home) and all I can think about is the fresh walls I’ll have for hanging photos!!

So that’s my story and my passion. For those of you who are also passionate about taking photos here are my top three tips for photographing children:

1.  Focus on the eyes. They really are the window to the soul! As kids often don’t want to sit still for long, I might say “can you look into the lens and see my eye”, or “can you see a fairy in there”. Also engaging in conversation, asking what their favourite ice cream flavour is for example.

2.  Let them be themselves and follow them around. Getting “natural” shots are capturing       special moments in time. Maybe they are looking at a flower or toy truck, they can be really contemplative beautiful images.

3.  Be aware of the light. Having streaky sunlight on a child’s face is not a good look. If it’s really bright try to move them into the shade. Or shoot early morning or late afternoon when the light is soft. Still get them positioned so the sun is not directly on their face though. The lovely soft light can create some beautiful back and side light.

Megan Webb, is a Mother of three gorgeous children (15, 7 and 4), wife and photographer! She runs her photography business on the Northern beaches of Sydney but will travel all over Sydney to take photos for clients. She feels very blessed to earn a living doing something she loves doing and would be doing anyway! You can see her website and blog at www.meganwebb.com.au



Do you have a passion you would like to share? Send me an email and you might be our next guest writer.