A younger boy standing with his hands in his pockets is one of the most popular poses I do. It can be one of the easiest or a source of great frustration for the parents and the photographer. I can’t remember when I first started doing it, but it has evolved over the years into one of my staples.
It can also a great example of what not to do.
I don’t do it as one of the first poses. I do it as the last pose after I have done several simpler poses. What could be simpler than a child just standing there? The trick is to make it look natural and it does look natural when you and the child are working together. That doesn’t happen on the first pose.
It looks good with any boy. I do it routinely with most boys up to about five or six years of age. But like many poses, the younger subjects look cuter. It is great with two or three year olds and I try it with any boy that can comfortably stand up.
One of the four images accompanying this post is a toddler without his hands in his pockets. When I stood him up my goal was probably to put his hands in his pockets. This time it didn’t happen that way. The important thing is to not get into an argument with your subject, even if he is one year old. It still looks cute. When this happens I usually finish by saying to the adults present, “We’ll do that one next year.”
The one common thing with all four subjects is that they look relaxed and natural. They don’t look posed or contrived. That is the sign of a great model, or a decent director. I consider myself the director. My job is to get the talent to relax, look their best and get it on film. Well, today a CF card.
If the parent is present, it is especially important to not do this pose until later in the sitting. This is one of the poses that very few parents can pull off well. If the parent tries to help it will frequently end the sitting. This is where you can separate yourself as a pro.
If one or more adults are present, and they have seen me work with the child for a few poses, they will usually stay seated and silent next to the posing table and let me do it. The most perceptive parents are usually enthralled with what I have done to this point. If they try to help it usually doesn’t look relaxed and natural. It fact it frequently won’t happen at all.
So how do you do it?
After doing the first few basic poses and establishing a rapport with the child, I stand the child up in the middle of the table. If the child is very young, I may have already set up the camera, framing and focusing on the point that I expect the child to occupy. All of the time I am talking to the child. I may say something like “This one is real cool. Are you familiar with James Dean? That’s okay. Your grandpa can explain.”
I prefer the child not be posed directly into the camera. I try to have his body turned just a little to the side, but I don’t make a big deal of it. Then I help them put their hands in their pockets. With a toddler, the hands frequently come out of the pockets as quickly as I put them in. It’s okay. Don’t hurry. Be patient and keep quietly putting the hands in the pockets and talking to the child. “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to get James Dean to do this right. Yeah, he was two years old then, too.”
Then step back behind or beside the camera and shoot. If the hands come out too soon, just quietly go back and repose the child. Keep working smoothly and quietly.
If the parent or any other adult tries to help, wave them off if you can. Yes, it may be their child but you are (or should be) the expert.* Too often, the child will not respond well if the parent helps. An older child will look forced and unnatural. A younger child will end up in Mom’s arms.
If I can’t get the adult to let me do it without their help, I just step back and stay out of the way. It might work, sort of, or not. Either way I already have all of the poses I need and the sitting is over. The parent may have learned that they should let me do it next time.
But, they likely will blame the child. That will not make it easier for either the parent or the child the next time. However, if the parent doesn’t see the obvious, that they were the problem that changed the child’s attitude, they aren’t likely to understand or believe anything you can say.
In a future post I will go through the sequence of poses I typically go through to get to this last pose.
I will also do a post about coaching the parents to help with the posing. I will get into more depth about why you shouldn’t do it if you care about the future of our profession, instead of just making a quick buck.
*You will be the expert with enough practice and maybe some coaching. It gets a lot easier and smoother after the first few hundred times.