06. The best of a sequence

  During this session, I wanted to capture the baby’s expression yet was also aware of the composition as a whole.

  The child went through many different facial expressions and I found it impossible to differentiate between them during the shoot. With no real idea of what I wanted other than an expression that seemed to speak of childlike innocence, it was seemingly impossible to evaluate the images while making them … better let the child reveal what it wanted than trying to manipulate the situation. Perhaps the ability to be more aware of the subject’s expression comes with time although I was aware of the fleeting changes yet wary of ascertaining what might be considered the best at this point. After all, the final choice of image was likely to be a subjective one.

Koyal at three months

   My emotions hovered around this incredibly fragile object of a 3 month year old child whose essence I was trying to capture. Perhaps in twenty years time, this child would come to see the image of herself and one wondered, in what circumstances, as the Government of India are pressurizing foreigners who live in the country to leave.

   The initial session of 72 photos was quickly edited down to 50, still a rather large number though. A further pick of these brought the selection to a more manageable 12; these could be given more consideration.

   What kind of an image did one want in the end? I found myself looking at very distinctive images, once the next selection had been whittled down to only 5.

   There was one image that stood out. Although not looking at the camera directly, the child revealed a kind of innocence that related to the notion I had of a child picture. I selected it and then looked at some of the other images taken around it that had not been previously selected. Another image from the selection of 50 now looked possible as the best! The expression was not so striking but relaxed.

   While looking at this other image that had recently emerged, I realized that there was an expression albeit a very passive one. The image originally selected although more expressive with features altered such as the mouth open, still seemed the best if only because the light fell directly on it’s face outlining the features a little more clearly.

   At this point, it seemed worth analyzing what exactly had made me choose this image. In it, the child has an unfocused look, it does not seem to be concentrating on anything and so the face is at its’ most innocent. There are other images that reveal humour, anger and curiosity but this photograph shows no recognizable emotion, it simply shows the baby in an almost natural state. The background and light help to enhance this.