"Smile!..Say Cheese!"...Please?

*Snap, Snap,Snap*
"Smile!" I say.
*Click, Click, Click*
"Just a few more," I say reassuringly.
"We're not gonna get any prettier," a lady joked.
 . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Can I take your picture?" I asked a few people once.
"Don't break your camera," the older man warned.

 Ah, yes. The beginner photographer. That's me.
I was walking around at a home school group taking photos (I'm part of the yearbook staff) when a lady walks up and asks,"Are you on the yearbook staff?" I proudly say yes, and glance at my prominent yearbook staff name tag.
"Could you take a few photos for my class?" She asks.
I get sweaty when someone asks me to take a photo. Almost every time. I look at all the people and my mind just goes blank. How do I pose all these people? 
"You go here..and..uh...you stand there...scoot that way a little bit...oh, sorry...move here."... And so on.

Taking photos has made me step out of my comfort zone more than a few times. Oh the difficulties of  grumpy kids, non-smiling people, and poses...
If you want to be a good photographer you must be good with kids, an artist (AR-teest), and a joker.
As Donald O'Connor sang in Singing In The Rain: "Make 'em laugh!".

You've heard it from an amateur. So.. will you? Smile? ...Please?