What are the important photo ops before/during/after a circumcision procedure?

Be sure to get a shot of the cop hired to keep the piece. But,seriously, just keep on your toes, and check with the Rabbior Moyel for dos and don'ts. It usually starts with a prayer,then the snip, then the crying and mazal tovs, then the food.

Art is dead on. Again.

BTW i live in Miami. Where is the circumcision and by who? Different mohel's and synagogues may have slightly different procedure. I may be familiar with those procedures as I have photographed some in the Miami Beach area.

Remember to keep shooting when the director yells "Cut!"

More seriously, though, I would think that it is an opportunity to document an occasion for the family. If I were there with an assignment to photograph and was in a position to decide what to shoot, I'd want candid shots of family, friends, rabbi, mohel and the infant. Old aunts and uncles and family friends, having a party. The food. The sweet table as a tableau, or even a few food items up close in macro. People chatting, celebrating, noshing, devouring lox and bagels, pastries, whatever. A ceremonial glass raised high. (Is there one? Been a long time since I've attended one, and I forgot my own. All but the...) Sleeping infant. Screaming infant. Proud family. I imagine it might be hard to capture squeamish looks of parents or guests at the fateful moment.

Having been to a Bris before, may I suggest that since the family will be crowding the table, and the subject in question (the baby) is small, concentrate on the mohel and the ceremony. The ceremony is lovely and dignified, and the parents involvement offers many good opportunities. Natural light should probably be preferred, in order to cause the minimal distraction. A good candid shot if you're on your toes is the family crowding in around the baby and taking pictures at the critical moment. :) All I could think was, "that poor kid; they're saving them to show his prom date when he's 16..."

I got stuck with this "honor" after the arrival of my best friend's first child. A few thoughts: avoid taking pictures of the "cut" itself. Caputre the baby-boy before and his tears after. I'd get lots of shots of the family and friends gathered for the event--it is, afterall, a party. You might want to see if you can rent an old movie that delt with this subject, "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" It starred Richard Dryfus as an ambitious young man whose first business is film making. He makes a Bar Mitzva documentary that includes footage of a bris. It is very funny.

nah, arts just dead.

Thanks for all the tips! This (Photo.net) is the place! No photo question is too spaced-out:)

Frank

And when the kid grows up, what man wouldn't want photos of part of thing being snipped off. Which reminds me ...

An old rabbi had saved all of the foreskins he had ever cut off in a jar. One day, he took them to a leathersmith and said he wanted a keepsake made out of the foreskins. A week later, the leathersmith presented the rabbi with a wallet.

The rabbi said, "I don't mean to complain, but I was hoping for something a bit more substantial than a wallet."

The leathersmith said, "(n)o problem; rub the wallet and it becomes a suitcase."