Photographing Children [with Special Needs] ~ Just Keep Clicking, Clicking

How do you expect to get that perfect shot if you don't click, click and click some more?

Any [honest] professional photographer will tell you that in order to get that one perfect shot, she snaps hundreds of photos. Really.

And that on occasion she walks away from a shoot without capturing the image she envisioned or that her client required. Yep, really.

I am clearly not a professional photographer, and more of my shots end up in the trash folder than in the editing program because I snap to excess. It is a sure way to better your odds of capturing that one perfect image.

This past weekend my son, Wil, competed in his first swim meet at our State Special Olympics. Being there as a first-time Special Olympics parent, I knew that my head would be buzzing and my focus on photography skills would not be sharp. Clicking to excess was my game plan.

Seriously, a mom/photographer who is nervous for her child, screaming GO! SWIM! DON'T LOOK AT THE NEXT LANE! and jumping up and down is not likely to get many perfectly framed and in-focus shots. And most of the time I was on the deck above the pool hanging over a rail being bumped by passers-by.

The majority of the photos I snapped this weekend are not stellar images…that's fine. What is important is that the special moments were captured.

One of my favorites…

Wil's dad is also his coach. Here coach is giving last minute reminders before preliminaries.

Having snapped about 2,000 photos, I think there will be about 500 keepers, and maybe 25 images that scream print me now.

Below is a gratuitous photo of our Special Olympian. Wil took the bronze medal in his division of the 25m and 50m freestyle events.

Two medals, baby, in his first competition. A proud mom has no shame. Later this week there will be more photos at Slurping Life and my flickr.

Back to the topic of photographing children…

This week's assignment is just keep clicking, clicking. You have everything to gain…including better odds of capturing the images you'll love.

Add your favorite photos of the week to our flickr pool and come back to leave the links in comments on this post.

If you haven't joined our flickr group, why not?

Melody is also at Slurping Life sharing photos and a few words from her special life.