Children/Group Photography

My third business related post tonight.

Are there any members who have experience with taking photographs of children and lots of them? Just wondering if anyone has set up a small studio in a local shop or something like the bigger franchises do in boots etc?

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Paul

Hi paul ,
I have photographed a large group of children at one of these play centers.
And as you know i photograph children in the studio.

Can you be more specific ,as i may be able to help ?

one important thing is to have a CRB certificate

I just wanted to pose the question to see if any members did this kind of work and hopefully to get some good tips on any part of it. i.e. what to watch out for etc.

I was asked last year to be the event photographer for a children's/parent group that Neath Port Talbot run but the main organiser was ill for some time and after the 4th call to them over 3 months to see what was going on they told me as there wasn't much time left so I couldn't go through their check process meaning the CRB. They were not very well organised at all!

It wasn't going to be a paid gig but I was really looking forward to the experience. Local radio was there, lots or organisations and sounded quite fun but never mind!

How do I go about getting the CRB certificate? This would definitely prevent any problems like the above I had one. Do I just pop down to the local Police station?

I know I could google the answer but you know this area well and would appreciated your comments.

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Paul

Hi paul ,
I had my certificate from the Criminal records bureau.

The police checks that you can get from your local station are different from the CRB checks.
these checks only show up unspent convictions and cautions but none of the extra information that be be revealed by the CRB.

Also note that there are two types of CRB standard and enhanced.

Standard checks are for people working with children or vulnerable adults.
Enhanced checks are for people with far greater degree of contact with children.

The standard check Should do you , but some local authorities and orginisations can ask for a enhanced check.
And they can insist in doing there own checks as well.

CRB website Criminal Records Bureau - Home Page

Thanks for information James.

Is there much cost involved for the Standard and Enhanced checks? How long to they take?

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Paul

You have a nice form to fill in
You need to supply documents as evidence of identity
I sent passport , driving licence and a utility bill. they give you a list of documents that you can send but they cant be copys and at least one doc should contain your date of birth.

It took about 3 weeks to come back

Thanks for the details James, i'll look into getting this done as soon as possible.

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Paul

Thanks also from me James for the heads up on the CRB certificate. I never realised and at present am shooting between four and 10 child portrait sessions a week. All my shoots are word of mouth and its easy to overlook these things (which I did....oops)
Though I do have public liability insurance.

Hey Paul

Since i shoot for a contemporary portrait studio based in rural hampshire, i photograph kids pretty much every week, mostly at weekends.

Not sure how much experience you have with children so pls forgive me if i'm teaching you to suck eggs!!

I have found that with shy kids always try to be on their level, ie sit down, crouch down etc.
For younger kids, preschool ets intimate knowledge of ceebeebies, milkshake and other likeminded tv shows always go down well as you can ask them and get them to call out names, songs etc.

If you can, have a cd player handy to have music on but not always kids stuff, i have anything from madonna, green day, paul oakenfold to ceebeebies going in the studio.

funny sounds, funny faces, asking questions to obvious answers, basically anything they think you should know will always get them laughing. If you have lots of parents for a group shot beware that they all will "help" you in trying to get their attention. lose them if you can..

getting their names wrong is a good one..this may sound like i act like a clown but it works every time and parents are really receptive to me esp when i start chatting to the older ones and spend time finding out what they liek and do.

some kids are just very confidant and do pretty much whatever..the shy ones will take time..i have an hour in the studio with each client and sometimes cant pick the camera up for 15-20 mins while they stop crying or running off!

sorry to rattle on here..hope you find a little helpful info...

Good luck with everything inc paperwork!!

Andy

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Rattle on..... are you kidding? You have supplied me incredible advice and filled me full of ideas, thanks for taking the time to rattle Get it.... babies, rattle? I made myself laugh at least!

I've read a number of articles on photographing children and have read there too that the parents can be more of a hindrance than help and ask them to watch from a distance. My daughters only 17 months corrected age (she was three months prem) so hasn't moved onto milkshake yet and I can see I will have to start watching more of these programs now and as if playhouse Disney wasn't enough!

Thanks again for the info, I'll be book marking this thread!

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Paul