I’ve been photography children for a while now and as a mom of a typical “all boy” boy myself, soon to be two of them, handling boys should be second nature by now. This I know for sure- above all, the cardinal rule for boys is “NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THEM”!! It’s the typical turn to answer the phone, only to turn back around and find your son attempting a skydive off the fridge or shoving little sister in the dishwasher. You just can never tell what those little boys will do. This is for certain, they are all different! Some boys like frogs, some boys like trucks, and some boy LOVE dirt. To a boy that loves dirt, I’m sure there are as many types of dirt as there are lipsticks at the Lancome counter. There is black dirt, muddy dirt, white dirt, sandy dirt, and there is dirt that is sticky.
My session last week involved a little boy who favors dirt above all else. Being three and having his picture made wasn’t a great combo for him. He was completely unhappy the entire time, until he hit “paydirt”-a lovely little spot of mixed red clay and sand. He played, rolled and tumbled in the dirt. So while he was busy making a mess of himself, I talked to mom about the techincal stuff, session links, time, prices.. ect. That’s when I forgot about that cardinal rule, and took my eyes off him. I had just opened my mouth to blab some more and SMACK! Right the face, a big handful of nice red clay and sand. I was a bit sweaty anyway, so it was a perfect combination of sticky sand meets wet face and mouth. The fact that the dirt stuck exactly where it hit was probably interesting to him- enough to repeat it. I was so shocked that I didn’t see the second hand coming with the another round! I started to back away and run- now we had a game of chase. I don’t know if I was yelling for help or what, but soon it was over, he was thrilled, a little ball of laughter, and I was covered in what felt like a dumptruck load of sand.
All I could do was laugh myself. I should have known to expect the unexpected- a reminder to stay on my toes and appreciate the fun in ordinary things, like red dirt and little boys.
Let’s not forget about little sister!!!
