You all love color. Last year's Flickr analysis of what photos were most popular on it's site were overwhelmingly, color. Yet most of us love black and white as well, and even claim to prefer it on an intellectual or artistic level. So few of my own favorite photographs are in color. Is that because I'm a photographer and purist? Can't say. What do you prefer? I'm interested to explore situations that are normally the preserve of color. Here, I was commissioned to take the annual photographs of a small pre-school and obviously this was a color shoot. The kids were brilliant - a lively bunch of little monkeys and fidgeting clowns. But I also wanted to do something different with the stale form of the traditional school photograph. The school principal, a progressive administrator, agreed to cut me loose as long as the parents were in the end happy. These are a selection of the results.
We all walk into the homes of family and friends and look at their children's school-issue photos, and for me, I have always disliked them. They are reasonably well lit and reasonably well composed images that look EXACTLY THE SAME the whole world over (that said, my own kids' recent school photos at the International School in Manila are wonderful, simply for the expressions the photographer coaxed out of them - that's why you hire a pro ;-)).
Why did I take this risk? Well, for two reasons: firstly, school life is immense and very personal to them. Don't forget how our own experiences influenced us very differently from one another. And yet the photographs that exist from our school years are boring, cookie-cutter, mass produced, monovisual. Secondly, our children are originals and I wanted to try something that captured their depth of character and the nuances of their personality. Truth, not perfection, was my goal.
I'm satisfied with them, and think I met my objective of breaking the mould for school photo day. These will stand the test of time in a world awash with Instagram filters.
Because this is what it's all about - time - photographs that don't just stop time, but elevate that particular moment and turn it into a monument of the person at that era of their lives. The many folds of character meet the persistence of time. The image is therefore not a static shot, but one that connotes movement, growth, acton, our human strength and vulnerability.
Of course, the parents got the color versions as well (and grandparents) and were super-happy, which is all that truly matters. Many thanks to the parents who graciously gave their permission for me to use these photos of their Little Amazings.
Here's looking at you, kid.