photographing babes

photograph of newborn taken by my very talented cousin-in-law Camilla! 

Digital photography has opened up endless possibilities for capturing moments in a child's life. The medium means that no flash is needed, there are multiple chances at getting the 'right' shot, images are easily manipulated, and sharing can be instant. 

photographs by Anne Geddes

I can only imagine the trials Anne Geddes needed to go through to create her brilliant images. Shooting long before digital photography was available, Geddes was a trailblazer of baby photography and completely changed the way people looked at portraiture. The setup time required, the creation of props, the unlikeliness of having cooperative subjects... then the angst prior to developing the film must have been considerable. Geddes greeting cards, calendars and books have been sought after since the early 1990's. Geddes still shoots and devotes much time and effort to philanthropic causes. 

Small babies are ideal still life subjects - when they are asleep: posable, not likely to move, and asleep for extended periods! This has negated all the problems associated trying to get a newborn to smile for a camera - or at least to look a little bit awake. Some people have been having a lot of fun and results are very creative. I love the simplicity of the Blackboard Adventures shot by Anna of Cute Moments Photography.

photo from cutemomentsphotography.com

A couple of mothers have turned their passions into lucrative careers, popular blogs, collections and even book contracts. Queenie Liao created Wengenn in Wonderland using her son as the subject in elaborate scenarios.

photo from facebook.com/Wengenn.wonderland

Adele Enersen started a blog posing her sleeping daughter in various poses entitled Mila's Daydreams. The collection later published in the book When My Baby Dreams.

photo by adele enersen, found at fashionisintheair.com/2011/01/milas-daydreams-adele-enersen

photo from: harpercollinschildrens.com/books

Action Movie Kid is taking all of this digital fun to an extreme. With a dad employed by Dreamworks, this toddler has the most awesomely documented (!) life. My children couldn't stop laughing at the short (mostly around 10 second) movies made by James' father Daniel Hashimoto.

video still from youtube.com/user/theActionMovieKid

Happy Valentines!

Not so original (as we have done this for the past three years), but still enjoyable... the kids created their own Valentines Day cards to swap at school. 

Superhero Miles

Poster created for a Superhero Miles for his 3rd Superhero Birthday Party. 

Colton is two!

Poster created to celebrate the super-cute Colton turning two!

Love's first kiss

Here is a novel artwork. 

A lady ordered this artwork as a Christmas gift for her husband. This is the doorway in which they shared their very first kiss! 

Things I have learned in my life so far...

all images from stefan sagmeister site

This is a lovely site. It began as a project by Stefan Sagmeister as a list heading in his diary... and grew into a collaborative project with people submitting imagery relating to things that they believe in or are 'fairly sure about'. There are some lovely and original photographs, montages, video and slideshows - using typography in interesting ways to describe a message or thought.

Photographs by:

Adrien Pritchard - I believe in God only I spell it Nature - quote by Frank Lloyd Wright

Rachel Katstaller & Eduardo Lovo - Designing makes me happy

Marie Loïc Sénamaud - Every Aquisition weighs me down

Ruxandra Duru - Beauty Inspires Me

Found via a Twitter on mapbrisbane

52 Suburbs

all images by Louise Hawson

I was really inspired by the 52 Suburbs project undertaken by Louise Hawson after reading an interview with her at Inside Out. The year-long project is based in Sydney, Australia - Louise's home town for over 30 years - and focusses on one of Sydney's 637 suburbs each week. I totally agree with her philosophy of forcing herself to look at a city through tourist / new eyes to "search for the beauty in the 'burb". Louise sees this beauty in people, architecture, history and nostalgia, nature, a fair share of tattoos and the purely mundane.

I love how Louise juxtaposes (most often two) beautiful images, using texture, shape, color, pattern, number, ethnicity, concept... as the relationship.

Via Inside Out

All photographs by Louise Hawson

New born babies

image by Thierry Bouët

Before I had children, I was accustomed to seeing the TV / movie 'newborn' - a robust, alert and rounded baby, covered in strawberry jam and cream... and thought "Awww. How cute!" During the prenatal classes we attended while expecting our first baby, we were shown a slideshow of shriveled, scratched, red, asymmetrical and emaciated babies. The room full of first-time expectant parents collectively sighed for the poor parents that received these very odd looking creatures. Our midwife explained to us that this is what newborns actually look like. The class then gave a collective, slightly horrified, shudder. We had all obviously been sucked-in by the six-month-old-baby-posing-as-newborn from TV. Although, I think we all were convinced that our babies would not look quite this *awful*.

After giving birth to our first child, we met the most-beautiful creature we had ever laid eyes on - and so not like those other ugly newborns. Obviously our photos lie - as the baby in the photos does not look quite as beautiful as we seem to remember him being. That is the thing about newborns... they are so incredibly special (once you have laid eyes on your own)... and look this way so fleetingly, changing so rapidly once in the outside world.

I was impressed by a series of photographs I had seen eariler this year. French photographer Thierry Bouët took a series of photos of newborns, within their first hour of life. Now I don't look at such photos with horror - but appreciation, joy, happiness... and with teary eyes. See the slideshow and audio commentary here.

Of course, I had to revisit our own little beauties...

Top photograph by Thierry Bouët bottom photographs by Anne