By Eric Kim
The ultimate photographic subject?
Your own kids.
Why?
Because you have unlimited access to them. You know their personalities, their quirks, their movements, their habits, their unique expressions.
And the fascinating thing: your kids are perpetually changing. The child you photograph today will never exist in precisely the same way tomorrow.
Therefore, the goal isn’t merely to take cute photos of your kids.
The goal is to transform your everyday family life into extraordinary works of art.
1. Think Like a Street Photographer, Not a Parent
My first thought:
The greatest mistake parents make when photographing their kids is trying to force them to smile.
“Look at the camera!”
“Say cheese!”
“Smile!”
Why?
You’re essentially transforming your child into a performing monkey.
Instead, think like a street photographer.
Your child is the protagonist of your photographic universe.
Observe them. Follow their movements. Anticipate their gestures.
The secret?
Don’t photograph what you want your kid to do. Photograph what your kid naturally does.
The spontaneous laughter. The strange facial expressions. The concentration when they’re building something. The weird little movements of their hands.
The best photographs are often the ones in which your child doesn’t even realize you’re photographing them.
2. More Artistic Means Less Obvious
Here’s a radical idea:
You don’t even need to show your kid’s face!
Consider photographing:
- Their tiny hands gripping a gigantic object.
- Their shadow projected against a wall.
- Their silhouette against the afternoon sun.
- Their little feet dangling off a huge chair.
- Their reflection in a window or puddle.
- Their body dwarfed by enormous architecture.
The philosophy?
Suggestion is often more powerful than literal depiction.
When you photograph a child’s face, you tell the viewer exactly who the subject is.
When you photograph their shadow, gesture, or silhouette, you introduce mystery.
And mystery stimulates the imagination.
3. Get Really, Really Low
Most adults photograph their children from adult eye level.
The problem?
Every photograph looks like an adult looking down at a child.
Instead, get on your knees. Squat. Put your camera literally inches above the ground.
Discover the universe from the perspective of a five-year-old.
Suddenly, your living room becomes an enormous architectural environment.
A little toy becomes monumental.
Your child becomes a giant.
And the most fascinating thing?
Changing your perspective changes your philosophy.
Don’t merely photograph your child.
Photograph the world as your child experiences it.
4. Embrace Movement, Chaos, and Blur
Why are we obsessed with sharp photographs?
Sometimes the most artistic photograph is the blurry one.
Your kid running across the living room. Jumping on the bed. Spinning around. Dancing. Moving their hands.
Experiment with intentional motion blur.
Try shutter speeds of 1/15, 1/30, or 1/60 of a second.
Move your camera along with your child.
Experiment with panning.
Let the environment dissolve into abstract streaks.
The goal?
Don’t merely photograph what your child looks like. Photograph what their energy feels like.
Of course, when you actually want to freeze the action, use something like 1/800 or 1/1000 of a second with continuous autofocus.
Master both extremes: perfectly frozen motion and beautifully expressive blur.
5. The Magic of Harsh Light
Everyone says you should photograph your kids during golden hour.
Certainly, beautiful.
But why limit yourself?
I think harsh sunlight can be insanely artistic.
Bright geometric shadows. A dark silhouette against an illuminated wall. Strange shapes cast by playground equipment.
Experiment with photographing your kids inside patches of sunlight.
Expose for the highlights and allow the shadows to become almost pure black.
You’re no longer merely photographing a child.
You’re composing with light, shadow, geometry, and human form.
Also experiment with window light. Position your child sideways relative to a window and watch how the shadows sculpt their face.
You can create something cinematic with nothing more than one window and a camera.
6. Make Your Kid Small in the Frame
One of the most powerful techniques?
Extreme negative space.
Imagine your kid wearing a red jacket in front of an enormous white wall.
Or a tiny silhouette standing beneath an immense tree.
Or your kid sitting alone in the corner of a gigantic room.
Why is this beautiful?
Scale.
The contrast between a tiny human being and an enormous environment.
This creates wonder, drama, solitude, and a sense of discovery.
Sometimes your kid should occupy only 5% of the photograph.
The environment becomes part of the story.
7. Black and White Is a Superpower
Color can sometimes distract.
The bright toys. The colorful clothing. The visual chaos of your house.
Convert the photograph into black and white and suddenly everything becomes simplified.
You begin to notice gestures, shapes, relationships, expressions, and light.
My suggestion: experiment with photographing an entire day of your child’s life in black and white.
Breakfast. Playing. Walking. Reading. Sleeping.
Then select your best five photographs.
Arrange them as a visual narrative.
The result?
Not simply family snapshots.
A miniature photographic essay.
8. The Best Camera Is the One You Actually Use
You don’t need a $10,000 Leica to make extraordinary photographs of your kids.
An iPhone is phenomenal.
A compact Ricoh GR is phenomenal.
The advantage of a small camera?
It doesn’t interrupt the flow of life.
You can photograph your child while participating in their world, rather than transforming every interaction into a formal photo shoot.
For my ideal photographic philosophy:
Small camera. Big vision. Unlimited curiosity.
Use a wide-angle lens to incorporate the environment. Use a longer lens when you want to isolate a gesture or expression.
But don’t become enslaved by equipment.
Your most important photographic tool is your ability to see.
9. Don’t Photograph Only Happiness
This might be the most important idea.
Why do we assume that children’s photographs must always be happy?
Children experience the complete spectrum of human emotion.
Curiosity. Frustration. Exhaustion. Concentration. Wonder. Determination.
These emotions are all part of childhood.
A child intensely concentrating on a puzzle can be more compelling than a hundred artificial smiles.
A quiet moment looking out the window might be more beautiful than a birthday party.
The goal is not to manufacture emotion.
The goal is to recognize emotion when it naturally appears.
Always respect your child’s dignity, privacy, and boundaries. Put the camera away when they don’t want to be photographed, and be especially thoughtful before sharing intimate moments publicly.
10. Become the Curator of Your Child’s Life
The biggest mistake in digital photography?
Taking 10,000 photographs and never looking at them again.
My suggestion:
At the end of every day, select your single best photograph of your child.
Not necessarily the sharpest.
Not necessarily the cutest.
The most interesting.
Ask yourself:
Does this photograph contain a compelling gesture? An unusual composition? Beautiful light? An interesting emotional moment?
Then, at the end of every month, choose your ten best photographs.
At the end of the year, create a photographic book.
Imagine having 18 years of carefully curated photographic artwork documenting the evolution of your child.
That is an extraordinary artistic achievement.
11. A Seven-Day Artistic Photography Challenge
Here’s a simple experiment:
Day 1: Photograph your child without showing their face.
Day 2: Photograph exclusively from ground level.
Day 3: Photograph only shadows and silhouettes.
Day 4: Experiment with motion blur.
Day 5: Make every photograph black and white.
Day 6: Photograph your child as a tiny figure within enormous environments.
Day 7: Create a five-photo story about one ordinary activity.
Only select your best one to three photographs from each day.
Don’t judge yourself by how many photographs you take.
Judge yourself by how many meaningful photographs you create.
12. The Ultimate Artistic Advantage: Love
The fascinating thing about photographing your own children?
You have something that no professional photographer can purchase.
An intimate, evolving relationship with your subject.
You know what makes your child laugh. You recognize their subtle expressions. You understand the meaning of their favorite objects.
And perhaps most importantly, you understand the emotional significance of ordinary moments that outsiders would completely overlook.
This is your ultimate photographic advantage.
The most artistic photograph of your kid might not be the one that receives a million likes on Instagram.
It might be a simple photograph of them sleeping on the couch.
Or holding your hand.
Or looking at the world with an expression you recognize but cannot quite explain.
Twenty years later, that photograph might become priceless.
Conclusion: Turn Your Family Life Into Art
My ultimate philosophy:
Don’t wait for extraordinary moments to make extraordinary photographs.
Your everyday life is already extraordinary.
The breakfast table is your studio.
Your neighborhood is your photographic playground.
Your living room is your universe.
And your child?
A constantly evolving human being whose every gesture, expression, and discovery offers another opportunity to create art.
Don’t obsess over making perfect photographs.
Make photographs that are alive.
Make photographs with emotion.
Make photographs with mystery.
Make photographs with soul.
Because ultimately, the most meaningful photographs aren’t simply images of what your children looked like.
They’re photographs of what it felt like to be alive with them.
ERIC KIM
Research foundation: Nikon’s children’s photography guide, Professional Photographers of America on authentic moments, and Documentary family photography ethics.