Children's Portraiture | Destiny Burke Photography

When the Genesee Valley Photography Society asked me to host a childrens’ portraiture class for their club members, I was so incredibly humbled. This group of photographers typically photograph landscape and/or wildlife and had taught me so much about their realms and it was my opportunity to show them some of my tricks with photographing children.

When I thought about what model I could use, I immediately thought Adriana would be the perfect fit for this occasion. The story of how I came to meet Adriana and her parents is actually quite humorous.

The Model

A couple of years ago, I took my son to a 1st grade field trip. While we were all sitting around in a circle, I looked over and saw such a beautiful young girl with her father. She had the most beautiful curly hair and her eyes were mesmorizing. I instantly panicked that I would look like a creeper, so I wrote my phone number down on a business card, handed it to her father and told him that I would love to use her as a model while building my portfolio for photography.

Within hours, her Mother messaged me and said she would LOVE to set something up! We met at an abandoned lot in Avon and had a beautiful session. I could tell she was meant for modeling and have asked her to tag along to a couple different locations for fun shoots. I also knew that the GVPS children’s portraiture shoot would be perfect for someone as fluent with posing as she was.

Envoking Confidence

The very first step to any photography session is bringing the confidence of your subject to light. Using some tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way, mixed with some casual posing, in no time, the Clients images start showing their confidence boost and the entire session is flawless!

Utilizing the Elements

Another talent I was excited to share with the group was how to use the elements around you on your session to your advantage.

Since it was Summer and warm, I wanted to show them how just a few natural props give a photographer guidance on their own. Ice cream, wooden sticks and trees all brought the story together that here’s this beautiful girl, hanging out around town, like we used to do in our childhood, playing with sticks, eating ice cream and taking in the beauty around her. After her gallery is all put together, it will tell the full story we were trying to tell from the beginning and the Client gets to reminisce in those photographs, long after the memory has faded.