Speed Edit

Sometimes people ask me why I don't offer these fantasy images for other peoples children. After all what parent wouldn't want art of their child? I have a lot of reasons why I do not do sessions of any type, but for this particular style the biggest reason is, not every child can do this.

I'm sure your kid is cute and everything but it isn't actually about the attractiveness of the child. This is work! We shot this today and spring time in Canada isn't exactly warm. I think the temperatures today had a high of 7 Celsius and there was a bit of drizzle.

She is wearing an adult dress that we had to pin all strange, and she had a wig on. Not the most comfortable stuff, and while she loves the images, wearing a wig is her least favorite part.

In this particular photo, it looks like she is sitting on a tripod. SHE IS NOT SITTING ON A TRIPOD. DO NOT SIT ON TRIPODS! It is actually the base from a big telescope, which was heavy. It was made to hold more weight than your average camera tripod. While it is pretty sturdy, it is still uncomfortable to sit on, not to mention while being crammed into a bush.

My son is totally not into doing these types of images, but he is always happy to be my assistant. Today he stood nearby so that she could reach for him if she felt unsteady. He also did the skirt tossing for me. A much MUCH easier 'job' than modelling.

Here she is trying to stay warm while I adjust my settings. The good part is that it really only takes a few minutes when I know the shot I am trying to create like I did today. I don't think she even realizes how good she is at this, because on top of it all she still poses, and has to take direction on how I want her facial expression to be...which is usually calm. Not even many adults can keep a calm face through all this. Yes sometimes I have to combine a few shots like I did here to get a leg in and the hands/face I liked, but still!

Here is the main shot I used. The leg was composited in from another image.

I simply could not create an image like this of just any kid. Parents would come to me seeing this level of work, and I would not necessarily be able to deliver that.