Interesting idea... Off the top of my head - a few thoughts: - You would want to partner with an experienced kid-wrangler. 8-12 kids is a lot to manage, especially when the fun/silly/exciting photography is going on. Without someone directing traffic, it could easily devolve into a lot of crazy. And not the photogenic kind. ;)
- Your idea sort of reminds me of the "photo booth" concept you see at weddings these days. There's a camera/lighting set-up in the corner, maybe some props, and guests are invited to ham it up for the camera, and they get a printed photo of themselves as a party favor. That might be something to explore as an add-on to other events for kids, like bday parties... it could fly in certain markets. - On a related note, I have a photographer friend who does just that at his own kids' school events. Middle school dances, that sort of thing. Though I'm not sure if he gets paid to do so, or if he just volunteers as a parent... - Also calls to mind "mini-sessions" -- where a portrait photographer has a set-up, in a studio or on location, and they book several back-to-back quickie (10-15min) portrait sessions. Minimal background & wardrobe options. Maybe your party idea could work with the senior portrait crowd? Best of luck - keep us posted! :) -c (Christine from Boston, owner/manager of three kids.) On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote: > One thing I've done a couple of times, which worked out very well, was what I > call a portrait party, where you get a group of friends together, and do > portrait sessions with each of them. It ends up with a lot less down time > when nobody is being photographed, set up time is shared among four or five > people, and the net result is that I can charge a lot less per person. One > big advantage of it is that it is a lot of fun, people have their friends > there, and you get a lot more "honestly happy smiles" rather than the forced > "smile for the camera" grimaces. > > I've had a few people ask me about photographing kids lately. I've only > photographed kids a couple of times, just enough to understand how much more > difficult it can be. The first problem is that you only have a few minutes > before their good mood is used up. > > What follows is a very blue sky idea, not worked out at all, but I think it > has promise, and I'd love feedback from people with more experience on the > subject than I. > > I wonder how it would work to do a portrait party for kids. Have snacks, > toys, games etc for the kids that aren't in front of the camera. Do > everything possible to make it a fun afternoon, with the photography being > part of the fun. Possibly even having costumes and props to get kids hamming > it up, and maybe even challenge kids off camera to make the kids on camera > smile and laugh. > > It's quite possible that since each kid would be in front of the camera for > just a short period of time, I could likely even do one of these for > something like 8-12 kids, and not have to charge lots of money per kid. > > Thoughts? Suggestions? Simply pointing out that I'm completely out of my > skull crazy? > > -- > Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
