Photographer of Children
Children Black and white photos
Of all the genres that I photograph, I think my favorite is children. They have real expressions and they aren’t yet tainted by “real life”. I love those expressions that say, “I am me and this is my world”. If we all could take just a little bit of that attitude into adulthood. Unfortunately, things knock us down a little, we loose a little self esteem, and we learn fear. Yes, I believe fear is a learned trait.
As parents we fear for our children. We worry that they will get hurt, we worry that they may not make the football team, and yes we instill that fear into them, unknowingly of course. Yes I speak from experience, I gave birth to and raised seven children, 4 girls and 3 boys. Looking back these are some of the things that I unwillingly taught them.
Although, I was never overweight, I feared becoming overweight. I was constantly looking for the best weight control diet, I exercised like a fiend. I was back to strenuous workouts within three days of giving birth. I was extremely insecure with my appearance and self-critical. Do you think I kept all this negativity to myself, although I did try, my kids saw it. Children learn from what they see, not what we tell them. I was afraid to take chances, this is the reason why I waited until my children were grown, with kids of their own before I started my own business. Until then, I was safe working as a registered nurse in labor and delivery. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job then, but something inside was not being satisfied. I had a burning desire to create beautiful art, but was afraid. This too, I taught my kids, to always take the safe way, don’t take risks. So sad. If I had it to do over, yes I would do things differently. I don’t exactly know the how, but I would try not to instill so much fear into my children.
Ok, I went off the subject a little. Back to photographing children. When I take a child’s picture, it is not always about the smile. The reason why is because, kids don’t always smile. They have their little stubborn streaks when try as you might, you can’t get a smile out of them. Think about the times you watch your little ones playing by themselves, so serious in their task. That is what I try to capture, those times when they are deep in thought and no one knows what is going on in that little head of theirs. I love those true expressions that is theirs alone. I also love black and white, because it is timeless. Fifty years from now, people will look at some of my black and white portraits of children and feel as much emotions when looking at them then, as their parents feel when looking at them now. This my friend is what Fine Art Portraiture is.
Snow White
I absolutely love helping kids live out their fantasy and creating art for them, that they will be able to pass down to their children. I truly am creating heirlooms. Whether it is Snow White, Elsa, or Harry Potter, my imagination is like the child’s and we have such a great time playing, they don’t even realize I am taking their pictures. I believe strongly in the importance of play time and allowing children’s creativity to flourish. Einstein is quoted as saying, “ Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited, while imagination embraces the entire world”.
Give me a call or send me an email and let’s talk about creating a little magic for your child.