Sunday, October 21, 2012

Cameras: Grandkids’ love-hate relationship


Oh no, not another photo!

An unexpected facet of a delightful and busy weekend with our Louisiana kids and grandkids was insight into the children’s love-hate relationship with cameras.

Two-year-old grandson Walker has lost all patience with parents’ and grandparents’ requests for him to pause for photographs. In his earlier months of life, what passed for patience with the staging and arranging strategies that accompany all but candid shots of the kids was probably a result of an infant’s limited mobility. Once he started crawling and walking, the carefully composed photos that many moms and grandmothers love became difficult to achieve.

He will occasionally still flash his trademark grin toward the lens. More often, though, the camera provokes a grimace, a scowl or an unblinking stare. This imp has perfected the stare down.

At Walker’s age, granddaughter Molly Kate, now four, went through a camera-averse stage. Now she relishes posing for photos. I’m not sure the same change will occur in Walker’s attitude.

He is still, for awhile, when he is . . .
. . . snuggling,

. . . eating, and

. . . sleeping. Mostly he is focused on moving and grooving. When he is not disgruntled by a camera in his face, he is so engaged in what he is doing or what is going on around him that he may not even notice a surreptitious snap.
Walker focuses on an early morning jump.

That’s when it is sometimes possible to capture that twinkle indicating that a plan may be hatching for his next foray into an adventure. And the adventure may not technically or otherwise stay within the bounds of his elders’
rules and expectations.
Walker soaks up the hubbub of a festival environment.

In contrast, Walker’s sister currently exhibits characteristics of a natural performer. Early Saturday morning Molly Kate was in tears when she was required to put tights on in preparation for dancing in a talent-show competition at an annual Baton Rouge pancake festival. She had fallen the day before and still experienced some pain from major scrapes on both knees.

Daughter-in-law Katie knew that I wanted to take a “dance-prep” photo of our little dancer with her long hair in rollers. As soon as her mom alerted Molly Kate, she stifled the tears and gamely attempted a smile without any instructions from adults.
Little trooper Molly Kate tries to smile with tears still pooling in her eyes.

The photo above makes me tear up. Here are more that demonstrate her relationship to the camera.

Molly Kate waits for her performance at the festival, subdued and in her own world.

Noticing my camera, she turns on a smile.

Sunday morning mom Katie wanted to capture her pair of munchkins in their coordinated brother-sister Halloween-season outfits as they prepared to head out to a birthday party at a local “pumpkin-patch” attraction. Katie knows that in the near future one or both of the pair will not want to “match.” She is having the outfits made and snapping lots of photos while the kiddos are still cooperating to some extent.

Molly Kate was eager to pose and show off her pumpkin outfit.

Although not as eager, Walker did light long enough for us to capture the image below of the pair near each other. With husband Walter, AKA Baboo, behind the camera, Walker even shared a smile.

Our pair of little goblins.

And this coming weekend we are off to Georgia to see our other set of kids and grand kids!

7 comments:

  1. they are both beautiful as are the new outfits. the best way to get him is when he is not looking, that is what i do to bob, he does hate the camera turned on him to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What cute shirts and what adorable grandkids! You are right to be proud of them, Linda. Enjoy your trip to Georgia!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Molly Kate is very photogenic. She would probably do well in some occupation involving on on air performance. Walker is probably an introvert. Perhaps he will grow up to be a writer??

    My youngest grandson can turn on those camera-ready smiles too, and like Molly Kate he is cute. I really like the last photo of your kids as goblins. Dianne

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adorable kids and adorable outfits.
    Grandkids are the best, smiles or no smiles.
    Have a wonderful time seeing your other grandchildren too. You are fortunate to be able to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I absolutely love the pictures! Even the tears in the eyes of Molly Kate and the grimace of Walker are wonderful! Oh, I wish I were closer to my grands! They are growing up far too fast.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The pictures are great and worth the trouble. I do think butterflies are much more forgiving than children when it comes to cameras.
    Have a great trip to the Peach State.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can certainly identify with trying to capture a photo of elusive little boys!

    I love their little matching outfits, too. Cute!

    ReplyDelete