To smile or not to smile. Senior pictures are filled with smiles--some serious. So I find myself saying things like 'smile' and 'lets make this a serious one.' Sometimes I joke around to get a laugh. Today I said--'lets try looking bad-ass.' Which of course---immediately made Jalen laugh and then when I told his mom that I asked him to look bad-ass I think her words were something like ' oh honey do it!' to her son which made us even laugh more and I think made getting a true bad-ass expression nearly impossible. But we still had a good time making some pictures just the same. The first few minutes of a photo shoot usually entails the subject not really comfortable--its not an easy thing getting your picture taken. You feel super self conscious and not sure what sort thing the photographer is doing when he asks you to do something--especially if it seems pretty weird or stupid. So the first few minutes are getting to know each other a little--take some pictures that won't likely make the cut and then once some trust and a sense of dialogue gets a little comfortable, then the real work begins. We shot for a couple hours today and have plans to do another shoot in a couple weeks ---a haircut a little too close to the shoot almost cancelled today---but we decided to make some pictures and see what we got. I'm glad we did, I think we got a few keepers and also got to know each other just a little---plus we get to look at these and make improvements for the next time. SayerMotter Photograph by Richard Sayer.