Sombrero Kid
My son insisted on playing in the street during the rain. He informed me that this sombrero would be better than using an umbrella. He's right, you know!...
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My son insisted on playing in the street during the rain. He informed me that this sombrero would be better than using an umbrella. He's right, you know!
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Aug, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photograph of my son, in front of our home in the UK. It is a blending of how we defined ourselves. I am from Arizona, but I was living in the UK at the time with my dual-nationality children. They had experienced travel to all over the place already in their young lives - from Edinburgh, Scotland to West Yorkshire, England to Berlin, Germany and from Mexico to Arizona, USA to Colorado, USA. They understood the great American vastness and the boredom of being strapped into a car travelling those distances, and the thrill of a highspeed train between countries in Europe. It is often joked upon in our family that all we do is eat Burritos for dinner - which may be true (actually, I think it IS true!) - and while living in the UK, that was an oddity to my English husband's friends and family. My children didn't question it. Our house was a true blending of what countries we were from, and a complete celebration of it all, and my children just saw it as nothing other than part of life. We had this big sombrero on the wall in our stone built, very old English corner terraced house. It was grey and it had just rained (again...), but Sombrero's can be great to block out sun AND rain! Right?Time
It was a weekend day - typical English dreary, drizzly rainy weather. We had just had lunch and my son requested that the sombrero be brought down from the nail in the wall... because he wanted to wear it outdoors.Lighting
No special lighting for this shot - it was totally and completely a candid shot. I was outside with my son and he was playing, pondering, puddle-jumping - and I was just enjoying how nonchalant he was.Equipment
My only equipment was a Canon 600D and a portrait lens. It was nothing fancy!Inspiration
His pose was so relaxed, as he paused from his skipping around... and the sombrero hat in England, with his shredded cut off shorts and sleeveless top is just not very English! It was totally contrasting from the area we lived in.Editing
I did bring out the mossiness of the old stone wall along our street, and the wet, reflective road beneath his feet and got rid of some uneven shadowing. But it wasn't very involved post-processing.In my camera bag
I have very little equipment (though I wish I had more!) I still use that simple entry-level camera and 50, 60, and 85mm f/1.8 lenses. They are my absolute favorite to use!Feedback
I have since done some portfolio building with children that aren't my own, and I find a very relaxed approach is the best when it comes to catching them revealing what it is to be a child. With some of the experiences I had in my portfolio building sessions, which I did a couple years after I originally took this photo, I would allow many hours with each family... sometimes I would be with them all day! I felt like I was part of the family, even though it was our first time meeting. Their children, over an hour or two, looked at me and moved around me with a familiarity that they wouldn't have normally in a quick one hour session. One parent told me about how a previous photographer had a challenging time with her child, as she was shy. Most of the pictures they received back were of her from the back - with none of her face. I had been with them all day - we went on a big walk through a valley, stopping at one end for cups of tea and cake. At this halfway point, her child laid her had on the table, closing out the world around her, with her red hair laying all around. She didn't notice me as she had grown used to me being with them on that walk, and I quietly took a photo - much like I did when my son was pondering in this sombrero photograph. It was one of my favorite photos from that session as well as the parents. They saw it and said it was their daughter's personality, and no one had managed to quite get that before. I felt that extra time with them helped. It is a way I will always work in the future. Patience and kindness goes a long way in life - particularly with children. For them to be themselves, they need to feel secure in their environment and the people that are near them.
