So back in February, I had this idea for a series I wanted to create. In a nutshell, images of children who weren’t cheesing it up for the camera. I photograph children every day, and 99% of the time, moms wants them smiling. And they want genuine laughter, happiness – goofiness – to celebrate how happy their child is! But it’s getting more and more difficult to get honest and authentic smiles these days. Even my own kids are guilty. They see the camera and their pictures faces come on. You know what I mean – you’ve all seen it, and probably done it! The fake smile.

And I just wanted to take a break from that. I wanted to create images of kids provide a glimpse of who they are without that “smile for the camera” mask.

And let me tell you – it was NOT easy! Kids are conditioned to smile. They do it almost reflexively when a camera pops in front of them. So it was a labor of love, for sure! I photographed 15 kids over the course of a couple of months. I’ve never been a quick project person – especially when I’m doing it on my own, and with a self-imposed deadline…

But I finally got my act together, and the opening was amazing! I’m afraid that if you didn’t see them in person, printed on hahnemuhle rag paper, you are definitely missing some of the beauty. A HUGE shout out to my amazing lab, Pixel 2 Canvas who worked with me to make sure they printed perfectly. No easy task I might add…  If you’re into tech stuff, as me about banding, 16 bit color mode and tif files sometime and I’ll tell the story…

So – just a few pics of the opening, I was so busy chatting with everyone that I definitely slacked on snapping pics… But I loved all the Instagram shout outs – thanks for all the love friends!

As you can see – it was a great turn out – huge thanks to my amazing colleagues at the studio, Shalem & Kylie – and obviously my husband for all his assistance! And thank you to all the lovely friends that took time out of their evening to stop by and support my project. It was absolutely wonderful seeing it all come together.

In 2017, it’s predicted that mobile phones alone will create over 1 trillion images.

Today, children in America don’t know a world where their picture isn’t taken almost daily.

We have conditioned them to smile, pose and look a certain way in order to “get the shot”, often simply for social media.

This series explores the opposite – the in between moments. A glimpse of children not posing or smiling for the camera.

This perspective of childhood is authentic, honest, and in our world today, frequently undocumented.