Good boys just wanna look bad.

Never fails.  The nicest, most polite kids in the world come to the studio.  Their grandmother, my neighbor, Debra, has assured me they will be good. 

And indeed, they turn out to be some of the best behaved boys I've ever met.   They change into their white shirts and take turns posing for grandma's Christmas portraits.  They smile like angels.

After I've told them how to sit, stand and pose for a few minutes, I ask them what they want to do in front of the camera.  Suddenly, they're all tough: pro-athletes, hip-hop artists, movie stars.  The stand like rouges giving me "the look."

But that bad boy look isn't exactly what the grown ups want to see in an 8x10 on the mantle.  So I've got to soften it, make the boys more approachable.

 Of course, this "back to back" pose above has been done a zillion times.  Why?  Because it works. If you stop and think about it, it shows independence and connectedness.  Perfect for team athletes or siblings. Fortunately, the boys liked the pose too.  They'd probably seen it before on some sports hero poster.  

The one thing that I did was raise up the boy on the right, Trey.  His older brother, Terrance was about 12-14 inches taller.  When I first posed them, the height difference was too much...I needed to see the faces closer together.   A full apple box gave Trey the boost he needed to bring his head up to Terrance's neck, yet still convey the age/size difference of the brothers.