Child Abuse

I don’t think I’ve ever had a shoot where the kid didn’t warm up to me in the first ten minutes… or twenty minutes… or forty-five minutes…

that brings us to Blair.

Sweet… CUTE CUTE CUTE little Blair.

Blair decided that she wasn’t really in to “picture day”.  Blair decided that she was in to eating suckers, drinking lemonade, holding on to her mama’s leg… and oh-ya… crying.  For those of you that know me, you know that I am maybe the worlds most relaxed photographer so Blair’s complete hatred of me didn’t bother me a bit.  Her Mom (Eva) on the other hand, was a little concerned and I hated that she was so stressed out.  I knew that I was catching shots here and there and I’d end up pleasantly surprising her with the proofs.  I also thought that if I acted ridiculous enough (barking like a dog, pretending to be a baby bird, wearing my shoe for a hat) for long enough Blair would give in and fall madly in love me.

Not so much.

Finally I told Eva that I had abused her child long enough and I would see what I had and let her know.

That’s when magic happened.

As Eva stripped her down on the sidewalk to change her out of her pretty white dress in to a more kid friendly driving outfit…

the REAL Blair showed up…

Sporting nothing but her panties right there on the sidewalk in downtown Marshall, Illinois this happy little angel appeared!

And OH. MY. HEAVENS. I couldn’t have been happier!  I hadn’t lost my touch!  I just didn’t know her trick!

Naked… (that’s her trick).

And yes, her Mom did get some photos of her sweet baby in clothes also.  A few from the “I hate the lady with the camera” portion of the shoot…

Such a doll, and I’m soooo glad that she was happy when she left.  I would have hated to get a bill twenty years down the road for her counseling sessions from the traumatizing photo shoot she had as a child!  And let the record show… she was still easier to photograph than my own children.