Bring Out the FUN! Five Games to Play During Family Sessions

Family photography sessions can be tricky business.  It’s a challenge to immediately make a connection to your subjects, make everyone feel comfortable, and then facilitate genuine interactions (that are hopefully happy!) in a one hour or so time span.  For me, I use games and prompts to help choreograph my sessions so that I have joyful and genuine candid images that are meaningful to clients and satisfy my artistic vision.   Below are five games and prompts I love to play during family sessions.

· Pass the Tickle (for families with children ages 2-10) – What is different about this game is the concept of passing the tickle, so that children have the opportunity to tickle their parents and siblings. Instead of just telling the parents to randomly tickle their children (which often results in turtlenecks and children hiding), I instruct the family to start at one end with the tickle and then tickle right down the row.  This way I can predict the family’s reactions a bit more and plan my composition accordingly.

· Look at the Person Who (for families ages 5 and on up) – I especially love this game when photographing all adults. It’s a fun way to get to know your clients and help everyone loosen up and look at each other with BIG smiles.  I simply say, “On the count of three, I want you to look at the person who……” My prompts are things like best/worst cook in the family, takes the longest in the bathroom, is the most ornery, etc.

· The Word Association Game (kids ages 10 – 21) – I like to play this game with my high school seniors. I give them a word, and they tell me the first thing that comes to their mind.  I often say mundane words like socks, math, broccoli, etc. and then will throw in boyfriend/girlfriend or another phrase that I predict will make them smile.  Their answers are usually pretty funny and it’s a silly method for us to connect and get comfortable with each other quickly.

· Race to Me (children ages 3-10) – Sometimes this turns into Red Light, Green Light but either way kids always love the challenge of me betting that they can’t run fast enough to catch me.  For this game I typically have a wide angle lens, such as my Sigma 20mm 1.4 or Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye, and use a shutter speed of 1/800 second or higher.

· Staring Contest (for siblings or parent/child) – I think this game works especially well for moms and kids. Mommas know just how to get their child to finally give into the staring contest and burst into laughter!  I like to take a wide angle image and then get in close to capture those big laughs!

What games and and prompts do you like to play during family session?  We would love to hear!

Missy Mayo
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