How to support your teenager through family photos- Spokane Family Photographer.

How to support your teenager through family photos- Spokane Family Photographer.

I often get asked “how do I support my teenager through our family photo experience, they aren’t excited to be in the pictures?” I think it’s understandable that your teen may not be excited about family pictures, maybe they haven’t had great experiences with school photos or other situations involving cameras. Their privacy is less and less these days when it comes to the internet. Whether its refusal to smile, unwillingness to hug their parents, eye rolls or crossed arms, I believe there are so many ways to approach teenagers at photoshoots, most of which should be handled on the front end before the photo shoot happens. I have quite a bit of experience with teen photos, when I began my photography business I photographed a lot of senior photos and now occasionally take photos of teens in family photoshoots and at school picture days in the Spokane area. Here is what I have found to help immensely.

Have a conversation with your teen

First off, I encourage parents have a conversation with the teen prior to the session just talking to them about why the photos are important, what the significance is, and that they are so glad the teen is participating. A higher sense of meaning goes far with teenagers, they want to understand the “why” behind the photos and why they matter to you so much. You only have so much more time with your teen before they become an adult and leave the house and you want some nice photos to remember the good old days. Explain to your teen something like, “these photos tell the story of our family and we’re so glad that you are a part of it, this household doesn’t work without you.”

Tell me about your teen

I send out a questionnaire to those who book with me, asking about each family member, so that I know a little about everyone in the family. Sharing some basic interests, sensitivities, personality traits with me will allow me to connect with them a little bit more and allow me to hopefully get a few smiles. I believe deeply that teenagers just want to be seen and I aim to do that in a way that allows me to capture them with my camera.

Let them have choices in what to wear

I recommend allowing the teen have some say in what they wear. Choose a color pallet that compliments what your teen likes to wear. So for example, if your teen refuses to wear anything that isn’t black. Allow her to pick from a couple of options of black or charcoal colored dresses, then compliment with creams, whites, tans and grays, then add a couple black accents to other family members outfits. Going shopping together helps. Just try to get the level of formality to match best you can.

Let me encourage the posing

I ask parents to let me be the "bad guy” asking the teen to pose. I will never be mean or disrespectful, so I use to term “bad guy” loosely. For some reason, teens are often more willing to do what I ask than they are what their parents ask- I don’t know why, it just is that way sometimes.. I like to prompt more than I pose that way they feel like they are in control of their own body. I never force anyone to smile, usually I can get it to happen organically. I do pose teens like I pose most children in a very connected way with their family.

Choose a private location

I try to choose more private locations when teens are involved and I’ve been warned about angst or low levels of self confidence, because they don't like having an audience when having photos done and bystanders at parks tend to stare. I also try to be extra cognizant of what I say, and to be sure to compliment the teen a little extra to help ensure they’re feeling good.

Focus on connection

I focus heavily on connection between parents and child in every session regardless of age. So that the teen is able to just be with the parents and not feel like the attention is all on them. I find there's two types of teens out there, those that ham it up for the camera and those who are extremely uncomfortable in front of the camera. So I do offer to the teen a solo photo that they can use for social media if that's their thing- sometimes it helps. I call out the awkward things I may ask of a teen and often it makes the teen feel seen and connected with and sometimes gets me a smile.