Why Candid Photos Are Better Than Posed

I know, I know… I’m probably gonna get some hate mail for this post. Don’t get me wrong – posed photos can be beautiful, and they’re a great way to capture kids at different ages. But…

There’s just something about a candid shot that makes me smile.

The littlest cousin not having the first clue what she’s supposed to be doing (and not really caring about doing it, either) … the next youngest doing his best to follow directions, but still too young to grasp the nuances of the pose … the oldest laughing at the bedlam going on around her …

It’s a slice of life I wouldn’t want to miss.

And of course there’s the ease factor. The shot above is sweet, but not exactly Pulitzer-worthy – in fact, it reminds me of the wedding photo in The Truman Show where Meryl has her fingers crossed (now that you’ve noticed it, you can’t un-see it, I swear!)

But to get that one sweet, posed, not-a-masterpiece image, we first had to get through all of these:

It was a challenge, to say the least, but a fairly typical scenario for us.

But the night before, I grabbed my camera and quickly snapped off a few shots – no posing, no special outfits, no silly adults trying to get young kids to look and smile (just one silly adult doing silly things that are great fun for little people).

Those three images tell a story – no words necessary.