Chapter 7: Evoking Expression and Emotion
Observing Emotions and Moods
Visualization
Involving Your Subjects with Nature
Studying Body Language, Gestures, and Movement
Telling a Story with Your Photographs
The Psychology of Photographing Children
As you look through photographs, whether they are your own family photographs, a friend’s collection, or even magazine images, you intuitively flip through them at a certain pace. Every so often you might come across one that stops you, slows you down, and invites you to explore or engage more deeply. It might make you smile, think for a minute, or take you back to a place in time. What a wonderful exercise this is to hone your own observation skills and to see what pulls you in. The chances are very good that the photograph that stops you or slows you down contains something profound or alluring in the expression, mood, and emotion. This is particularly true in children’s photography. Children’s expressions and emotions are usually close to the surface and readily available. As a children’s photographer, you just need to be there, to witness, and to capture, what is offered so freely.
“I think that emotional content is an image’s most important element, regardless of the photographic ...
