Ready? One, two, three ... Grimace!

Why is it that most photographers, when taking a picture of someone else, ask their subject to smile? And then the subject has to hold the pose, and wait, and wait, and wait for the shutter to snap. The photographer is never happy, of course, with that first smile. "No, not like that. Smile like it's your Birthday. Big smiles. Big, big! Show me your teeth. No, don't grimace at me ... SMILE!"

Not me, not ever. I hate those canned smiles. I much prefer catching someone in the "act" of just being themselves. Even, and perhaps especially, when they are not smiling.

But my kids, so conditioned by hearing other photographers telling them to "smile", they just do it instinctively, whenever someone is pointing a camera in their direction. It's a habit I'm trying to break them of.

Smile when you're happy, not when someone is pointing a camera lens at you.