Something that always intrigues me is looking back at my childhood and adolescence years and wondering which events gave me more points in confidence, self-image, or shyness. It’s such a crucial period for kids to grow confidence in themselves and who they are especially in today’s age where there’s not only peer pressure to look a certain way in school but on social media. I was personally teased a lot for the mole on my nose and it didn’t help that Austin Powers was the trending movie at that time.

I don’t mind my mole anymore and I see it as a beauty mark now but that took a lot of years of looking at the mirror and hearing positive comments from my family. Only if I was shown how beautiful I looked back then from early on as a kindergartener and as I went through rapid changes in puberty. This is why I recently found a passion for photographing kids.

The portrait experience I offer to my clients is all about being confident in their own skin and feeling amazing because let’s face the truth, it’s hard. And you know who it’s even harder for? Your sons and daughters going through primary school to high school. Their body and mind develop so fast, they get growing pains and pimples for the first time. But can you imagine if they grew up with beautiful portraits of themselves and learned the hard concept of how everyone is different early on? They’re going to have an impenetrable armor of self-confidence throughout their lifelong journey!

Naomi was my first friend with a young daughter, Darla, and I got to photograph her family last year and you can check out that blog over here.

Well, a year went by and I had to invite Darla over again as she turned 8. This time she was rocking bright red hair that Naomi helped dye for Christmas and Naomi tells me that Darla’s been asking her when she gets to come to the studio to shoot with David again. Yeah. It melted my heart. It also infuriated me when Naomi told me some kids at school were calling Darla chubby and making remarks about her new hair color. I rolled up my sleeves, set a date for the shoot, and I was determined to make Darla a total ROCKSTAR.

Naomi was assisting me, Darla was so excited to play dress up again (she was also dressing her dolls), and oh boy did we have a great time. Look at how adorable she is!

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And if it didn’t look like we had fun… well here is the behind the scenes for the proof… 🙂

 

So parents, I want to challenge you to capture beautiful portraits for your kids as they grow up. Keep doing what you’re doing with your iPhone and documenting but also visit a photo studio. Those phone photos are more for you so have incredible portraits for your kids that they will love!