08/10/2026
Being candid - a real conundrum for the modern day photographer.
In the industry that I am in, photographs can tend to become photo shoots, and in doing so, the real candid can sometimes get lost. There is a process involved in achieving candid now, that as photographers we have learnt in cues, in pretending an ease, in our social behaviour, to try to achieve - what we call a candid photograph. (And hope that sometimes we get that moment that is the true candid and it mostly only happens when we put down the camera). When photographing adults, creating a sense of ease and play in front of the camera is often a process. We have to work towards it. There is an awareness of being photographed, and sometimes we can move past that awareness and sometimes we can’t.
But unexpectedly photographing so many little kids this year has made me really enjoy what that word means and rethink the process.
With little kids, there is no such process.
There is simply their process of play. they get curious, they move from one thing to another, they lose interest, they come back, they explore. Most of the time, they are simply unaware of it.
In June, we organised our first Mini Sessions in Toronto, inviting families and couples who wanted to update their life photographs in a quick & easy way.
As usual, I knew my spots, where people will photograph better and so on- but the second I met Bella, I forgot about all the cues, all the planning I had done. She taught me that I wasn’t supposed to treat it as a photo shoot. In a few moments I realised, this was all I had wanted as someone who photographs people. I just had to follow her curiosity and see what she saw and hope to document her as her beautiful little self.
This year has been an unexpected amount of little kids in front of my camera - of all my clients whose weddings I have photographed years ago are now growing into beautiful families, allowing me again into their lives and their kids teaching me insights into my own process.
Photographs from the beautiful family of Raj & Fabio.
Photographed by Photo Poet Society
Storytelling & design Saloni Kacholia
