Sharon and Mike were kind enough to invite us into their home to photograph their brand new baby girl Karys (pronounced: care-us/ greek for Grace). Typically newborn portraits are done studio style, on a flat backdrop to isolate the subject; we decided to take a different approach for this shoot placing Karys in the context of her family home.
One of my favourite things about old family pictures is spotting all artifacts from my childhood. Some pieces of furniture, artwork, and miscellany are still part of our caravan others don’t make it. There is strange sensation to be derived from seeing a familiar object in a unfamiliar context, perhaps a painting that hung over the couch in the old family room now hangs in the rec. room in your new house gathering dust. Photographs preserve peripheral details and have the power breathe new life into artifacts from our past reminding us of the value we once endowed these objects with. There are also those pieces of miscellany that don’t make it to the next house, toys that have been given away, blankets and clothing that have been handed down, donated, or thrown away. Spotting these pieces of our past remind us of how far we have travelled and carry us back culling faded memories that are seemingly attached to these physical pieces of ephemera – memories that might have been lost, had the artifact not made it into the frame.
For Sharon and Mike I hope this translates to memories of their first home and the beginning of their new family. For Karys, it is my secret hope that in 10 years time she will happen upon a box in the basement and be filled with questions about this first home and the circumstances that made up their lives when she was first born.
FIN
