Well, the show has finished and the prints have all been taken down, so I can finally share these pictures with those of you who couldn’t make it down to the gallery. Before I do though, I just want to say a MASSIVE thanks to all of the friends, family, clients, photographers and art-lovers who came out for the opening a couple of weeks ago. I joined this project at the start of the year because the topic was interesting, the standard of the other photographers involved was fantastic and I liked the idea of challenging myself to shoot something familiar but to do it differently. What I didn’t consider was that we’d have such an incredible turnout for opening night or that it would become such a great excuse to catch up with you all.
For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about :), here’s the short version:
There were ten Melbourne-based photographers involved, each with quite different styles, backgrounds and specializations. We each chose an age from one to ten which we’d then attempt to describe or communicate something about, and we had to do this within two portraits. I chose age one, partly because I have very easy access to a gorgeous (I may be biased) little 18-month-old subject and her friends, but also because I loved the challenge of trying to photograph a one-year-old in a way that isn’t about cuteness or beauty but entirely about personality and development. It’s an age with so much going on, but it’s tempting to just photograph smiles and cute expressions (you could say that with Angus I gave in to that temptation a bit actually).
My aim in the pair of images was to show 1) how restless one-year-olds often are as they constantly move and explore, looking for new things and experiences, and 2) the moment when they find or do something new (for Angus, his new experience was being encouraged to smear spaghetti all over his face and through his hair, and he LOVED it!).
If you missed it or this is the first time you’re hearing about it, don’t worry – 11to20 looks like a real possibility for next year. We enjoyed it way too much not to go back for seconds.
Anyway, enough typing. Time for some pictures. Enjoy.