It was late in the evening on a Wednesday night. I had just finished cleaning up from dinner and the kids were playing quietly with Legos and reading books. Apparently, the self-destructive part of my psyche decided that this Peace Should Be Interrupted and I should drag one of the kids to the studio to test another lighting idea that had been running through my brain.

Bruce happened to be the cleanest (surprisingly) so I grabbed some fall hand-me-downs from big brother Jack and off we trotted to the studio.

Bruce wanted to know if he would get paid.

Once I agreed to his terms (payment as soon as we arrived back home), I set up against the olive wall to see how many different looks I could get with a five-minute attention span (normal for a five-year-old). You can see the progression of his interest in these image. Serious and ready to work for a few minutes- then his native weirdness takes over… then he’s done. The last smile was only because I said the word “poop.”

All poses are Bruce’s own. I told him the general vicinity in which to stand; he supplied the rest. Do you have a child that brings his own life to the party?