Girl

Great work, Cheryl. The space on the left works well, and the body language and eye contact tell a story.

Haunting and quietly powerful

What do you mean "dunno" how can I emulate your work, lol! Seriously though, I think this is a better picture than the last one and THAT was a winner. How do you get the subject (at that age) to concentrate and not bounce all over the place? I am thinking of taking pictures of my Son but the trouble is he never sits still, he cannot stand, without falling over and generally a handful. Tips would be grateful.

Very revealing of a child who lives within herself. Beautiful as well.

Regarding N for S's comment, I would imagine that children who bounce off walls need to be photographed bouncing off walls and those who are 'inside' need to be photographed that way too. The trouble comes when you impose expectations for a kid to be who they're not. Besides...when you photograph them as they really are, you amass a ton of evidence to show them in later years...hehehe.

Thanks for the comments.

John said about 90% of what I was going to say. For the most part, I do photograph kids in the mood they present to me, whether that's serious or bouncing off walls. However, I do also try to catch other aspectts of their personalities; even the goofiest kid has serious, thoughtful moments. I am usually able to change up the mood by changing my voice and my body language. It really only takes a brief moment to catch those deep eyes -- which is good, because a brief moment is usually all you get.

The biggest challenge is when I'm photographing siblings with opposite personalities. My goal isn't to catch matching expressions, but rather to catch genuine expressions on both children while bringing them together via interaction and body language. Hard to do, but rewarding when it works.

- CJ

very nice composition and a very nice subject. Good to see you are shooting medium format again?

great shot... excellent composition as well...!!!

Thanks for the comments. Tom, I always shoot MF when it's an option -- sometimes it's impossible. Svend, the shadow detail is entirely the fault of the scan, not the development -- my scanner just cannot pick up shadow detail at all. Very frustrating. Neg is full of detail both in shadows and highlights.

- CJ

This is really wonderful Cheryl - Your style is wonderful and it shows in all your images. Thank you for sharing these with us. This could easily be made very large and become a centerpiece on a wall. It is deep.

wow, this is really powerful... amazing.