B&H Photo Portfolio Development: A Walk On The OCA

Last month while we were still in peak Fall season, my younger daughter and I took a walk on the Old Croton Aqueduct in Hastings NY while my older daughter was on a playdate. I used this opportunity to photograph her for the B&H Photo Portfolio Development project I’m working on.

I didn’t really have a vision or a plan for this session. When we passed an interesting spot and when the light was good, we stopped to take some photographs. I like seeing a variety of textures likes rocks, leaves and the wool from her coat. I didn’t want them to look like straight portraits so tried to give them a bit of an artsy feel in the processing.

As you’ll notice from most of my personal work, the kids aren’t smiling. I’m really drawn to serious expressions from kids and actually directed her NOT to smile! I usually prefer these types of images in black and while. It adds to the mood and I think it makes the viewer wonder what a kid could be so serious about since most of the time you expect to see kids smiling and laughing.

Then we went off on a little tangent There was a bit of a chill in the air and she asked if she could have my scarf. Before putting it on, it became her toy for the moment. I love how kids can be so spontaneous!

When she was finished playing I decided to wrap her in the scarf. I didn’t have an artsy vision for this one but instead included it just because I really liked the natural light on her face. A photograph I’ll probably have printed one day for my home.