@bennett-family Thank you so much Lydia! That’s so good to hear.
Yes, *so* true!! Managing everything at once is a challenge for sure. I think we should give ourselves grace, especially when trying new things for the first couple of times before it becomes a habit. 😀
I like that bright & cheery feel to the photos you edited! You’ve inspired me to step out in that direction a little bit more! One of the things I was trying to avoid though is that when I brightened the photo to a certain extent, the mom’s black dress started to look pixel-y/dusty. I really like the first photo, but the second photo doesn’t seem to pop as much, in my opinion. But that’s one of the neat things about photography – everyone can have their own style, and when you’ve found your style and can stick to it, though it may not be the favorite style of absolutely everyone in the entire world, it will be irresistible to some. And that’s the goal!
Oh wow. It would be so hard to share everything I learned!! Besides doing my best to show interest in the children, listening to their stories of catching crawdads & such, smiling constantly (as I always try to do) and especially praising them (genuinely, not insincerely) and telling them they were doing a great job at the posing, looked “so good!” and saying things like, “oh, I love it! You’re doing such a good job!” or “oh, that is so pretty (insert girl’s name)” or “your mommy & daddy are going to love this photo!” which are the fundamental basics to posing, I think, I asked her if her dress twirled. She was very happy to show me, and after that, asked me to take as many pictures of her as possible doing all sorts of things – she wanted one by the flowers, one on the ground, one doing this pose and that one, etc. 😀 And after the sun went down, she wanted me to go inside and play beads with her. 😀 😀 😀 But asking her if her dress twirled was the turning point. 😀 (And of course I knew it twirled. 😀 ) Also, I donned a cowboy hat and she thought that I looked utterly silly in it and started to sort of smile-laugh at my ridiculousness. So I took some pictures of that too. 😀 That was when I got the biggest smile from her, because she was totally not reacting for the camera.