Back to School Already? Let’s Get Our Cameras Ready!| Northern Virginia Child Photographer

Didn’t we just end one school year?  I honestly do not feel that my kiddos have been home for two months already.  But alas its that time where we all rush out to the stores to stock up on glue sticks, notebooks, crayons, pencils, and in the case of my kiddos’ school, “chair socks”.   I mean seriously, chair socks? What happened to making better chairs so they don’t scrape across the floor?  Why do we need to put rubber tennis balls on the bottom?  UGH, I digress… that is completely not the point of this post but some things get my fire going, and I could go on for hours.

While school supplies can send me over the edge, one thing I truly love about the start of school is hearing about how my own kid’s hopes, dreams, and thoughts have changed from the previous year through documenting their “back to school.”  I don’t know if you are like me but I take pictures of my kids on the first and last day of school.  Since I see them everyday, I can really tell how much they have changed in a school year by the before and after.

Another fun thing I like to do with my kiddos is actually take some back to school photos.  These are usually really fun and I let them add their own personality into them.  You don’t have to be a professional to take fun images of your children and it doesn’t have to be something they dread.  I found a great article that really has some great tips on getting some fun portraits of your kids during this time.  My kiddos generally despise  when I ask to take photos of them (well, my boys do anyway) but last year my sweet friend Shawna, who has an amazing gift of re-purposing furniture , has some amazing pieces in her home so she set them up and I took some really fun shots of our kids.  I let them pick out their outfits and accessories and they really felt they owned a part of this session.  Here is what we got.  Each child’s personality really showed in their photos.

If you don’t have a bunch of school vintage school furniture (I mean who does?), use what you do have.  Hang pennants from two trees.  Then put down a blanket between the trees.  On the blanket you can put a milk crate ($10 from Michaels) topped with a stack of books and an apple. Have your child(ren) sit on the blanket all together or one at a time reading a book.  You can be silly using fake glasses in some pictures, have them pretend they fell asleep reading, or even pretend they are bored.  They will giggle so much and you will love it.  Oh, and don’t forget the chalkboard.  I love putting my kids current grade in school and what they want to be when they grow up, but you can also incorporate it into the fun shoot by writing quotes, or funny sayings, or even pretend your children had to write something 100 times because they were being reprimanded. Wait, our kids don’t get in trouble in school (wink, wink).  Have fun.  They are only in this specific grade one year and in that year, they grow and change so fast.

Happy Back To School!