Photography by Sandra Howard
This photograph a photo of me, shot over 9 years ago at age 17 (2001) while churning through another portrait drawing. The photograph I am drawing from was an original portrait of a child from my Mom’s home daycare service. The camera used to take the shot was a Pentax MX film body. It took additional time to have your work processed the “old-fashioned” chemical way. Until I found this photograph, I had lost memory of ever having created this piece.
In 2005, I Sandra Howard, shot my first digital SLR photograph on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. Remember theses? I do! Over the past 6 years, I have been through a variety of learning phases and an equally wide variety of camera bodies.
Proceeding in order, my first film body camera was a Pentax MX. Upon moving to a digital body, I bought a Canon PowerShot S500 point and shoot, followed by a more advanced point and shoot, the Canon PowerShot S50. I then went with a more advanced lens system on the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. My passion for the hobby had me craving for more each day, eventually I treated myself by upgrading to the Canon EOS 20D. Today, I use both a Canon EOS 5D and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II in my work-flow.
During the final photo-shoot, 7-month old Sophia appeared delighted being set into a brown bum-sized bucket, especially upon our offering her a gorgeous single pink rose to hold. While having the opportunity to be so close to such a beautiful flower, Sophia never took her eyes off it. Judging by the expression in her eyes, Sophia had fallen in love.
As their baby photographer for this and the previous few sets, I want to leave warm thank you to Sophia’s parents and especially the adorable Miss Sophia herself.
Following the bathing of 7-month old Sophia, I bundled her up into one of her Daddy’s favourite brown blankets for the first set of photographs, followed by one of my favourite multi-coloured wool blankets for the second set. I am pleased with the series, especially the way the girl kept looking up into my camera with those perfect, glass-like, doll-like eyes for the entire shoot.
Sophia quickly became comfortable with the camera in her face, eventually reaching to grab my lens! I managed to sneak in silly faces while photographing Sophia to keep those beautiful smiles glowing over and over again. I’m delighted with the results of the beautiful set.
A mid baby photo-shoot nap is one of the best pieces of advice I would give any baby photographer. During this sessions our baby model, Sophia, became clingy to her parents. This is where my advice kicks in… the following shots were taken after setting Sophia down for a quick 30-minute nap. Upon awakening, Sophia was the happiest I had ever seen!
I love the purple and black striped background in this shots as they suggest a fun, magical and castle-like atmosphere.
