"Hi Mom! I'm on TV"

The camera is your friend.

If you are working as a clown, you will be on camera...a lot, all the time. How do you pose? How do you prop a child up to look their best? How do you get a group of 15 little girls to gather round and look at the camera?

Cameras are so a part of our life, they should be accepted like a hug from a child.

This is so much in the character realm. Your character should have a way of standing, if you see a camera, go into that pose in a quarter second.

But here's a thought on that. Is it your pose? Or have you seen a million other clowns do that same stance? My pose is a tip of the hat, mouth half open. Now, as a side note, when I'm at a family gathering, it's really hard to not have my mouth hanging wide open when my mother takes a picture of a table full of people. I'm just in front of the camera a lot more in my real life, my clown life...

There are also moments I look for that I know will take great photos. 2,3,4 sometimes 5 year olds will sit on my knee. I am on the floor one knee up like a football player and I put them on that knee. This is the cutest shot in the world. Plus, I'm happy the kids are so comfortable with me. Doesn't always happen, so I like it when kids are willing.

Sometimes I take photos with child after child. This happens to me in my library shows. Everyone has a camera now on their phone, so I get a line of kids to take pictures. I have my 3 go to poses. A lot of it though is getting kids laughing in a fraction of a second and getting one on one time with them. It's nice to make that very very strong connection.

A lot of times, I can actually pick up a younger child, if they have an older brother or sister, this is cool too.

This is not to brag, it's just I have to know how to do this.

I was thinking of this topic last night because I was watching 5 very seasoned singers last night perform. One of the women has asked me to video the show. This was as far away from clown work as you can get. They sang gospel, jazz, soul, show numbers. They could sing!

I say it was far away from clowning but performing is performing is performing. They didn't look at the camera but I could see they acknowledged the camera. A bit hard to explain but because I am on both sides, I perform a lot and I make a lot of video, I see how people are in front of the camer. So I can see they acknowledged me as a special audience member. The same way you might acknowledge you mother is in the audience.

Embrace the camera as a friend. Look it square in the eye and smile big.