Being a photographer, my boys have grown up with a camera in their faces. Now that they are teenagers, they are 100% done with me taking their picture. So I have to get creative. I tried bribing them, but I am going to run out of money for video games soon. Threatening doesn’t work. It only gets them upset and pouty for the pictures.
What does work?
1. Feed them.
Teenagers are always hungry, so give them a big plate of food and watch the smiles emerge. Plus, much like infants, fully fed teens are much happier and will be more likely to cooperate.
2. Pair them with friends
It’s nice to have formal portraits of your kids, but when that’s just not going to happen, you can get pictures of them interacting with their friends. It’s a nice memory and they will appreciate it later in life when they look back and see who their friends were at the time.
3. Catch them doing something silly
Teenagers love showing off all the crazy things they think they can do. I caught this when the one boy swore he could climb the tree if he just got a leg up from his friend. This photo sums up teenage boys perfectly.
Teenagers love showing off all the crazy things they think they can do. I caught this when the one boy swore he could climb the tree if he just got a leg up from his friend. This photo sums up teenage boys perfectly.
4. Get them to do a “trick” shot
I asked them to “hold up” the bridge. Only one of them tried it but the rest at least got in the picture for me.
