When someone contacts me about photographing their child’s communion or christening or birthday, I always automatically assume they are talking about their daughters. I’m not sure why but people tend to contact me more to photograph their daughters rather than their sons. So it was a pleasant surprise to hear that it was actually young Ryan who was the centre of attention that day! And boy, did he really grab that concept of being the focal point.
A lot of people tend to feel a bit nervous about getting their photo taken, and I don’t blame them! Even I feel nervous too sometimes when I’m invited to a wedding and I see the photographer, out of the corner of my eye, pointing the camera in my general direction. But Ryan loved having his photo taken. I took my time with him and taught him some poses, which he was only too eager to learn. I used the different locations in Fitzgerald’s Park to suit the pose, and just like that, I managed to get one portrait shot after the other.
We even faked this little scene with the father, where we got him to do some fun touch ups on Ryan’s collar and tie. This was not just a fun little interaction to photograph, but also a great way to get the father involved into the portrait photo shoot.
Quick break from the serious stuff to have some fun!
Quick break from the serious stuff to have some fun!
Then back to do some family group photos.
Then back to do some family group photos. The three of them made this shoot so easy, that we were done in a surprisingly short amount of time, which they appreciated as they needed to get to the church for the communion. I’ve said it before and I’ll stick to saying it again, but this is why I love being prepared and doing some location scouting beforehand. This family photo shoot took place in Fitzgerald’s, one of my favourite spots (also see this family portrait shoot I recently did there), and I’ve been there hundreds of times. But still I insist on arriving early and doing a location scouting. You never know what the light is like on that day, how the flowers are doing, have the roses started blooming yet, is a family having a picnic in your favourite spot? All these things can be quickly checked with a location scouting and will prevent a situation from becoming an issue.
As I’m writing this blog, it’s raining outside, so a big shout out to the sun for appearing on this day! At the moment it feels like the summer is not really coming so I’m just appreciating that it did make an appearance on one of my shooting days! Haha!
Oh and lastly, just wanted to share their review that the mother, Sinead, left me as it’s just too sweet not to include (testimonials for other shoots can also be found here):
“Jannik recently did a photoshoot for our son’s First Communion. We met him down in Fitzgerald’s Park where he picked out some amazing spots for photographs. He made our son feel like he was the most important person in the world that day, which he was. He was very professional and courteous and even had a sneak peak photograph to us later that afternoon. We are thrilled with all the photos we got on the day and really glad Jannik was available to capture our sons special day. I’d highly recommend Jannik.”
Over and out, thanks for reading!
