As I’ve already pointed out, I have a great deal of interest in child portraiture, (both posed, formal portraiture, and images which have narrative), and I’m always on the lookout for inspiration and ideas, especially things that get my own kids involved and enjoying themselves without the constant battle it seems to be with children under 4 or 5 years old.
In my Assignment One tutor feedback, Sharon introduced me to the work of American wedding photographer Jason Lee.
Wedding photography isn’t really my thing, but Jason Lee has another side to his photography. When his mum became sick, it was difficult for her to see her grandchildren, so Lee started a blog to keep his mum updated about what her grandchildren get up to. You can see some of these images here on the Bored Panda website.
When I first looked at the article about Jason Lee and his creative kids photography, I thought it was simply fun, and well… funny. But as I thought about it more, I realized that it could actually be perfect for someone in my situation with grandparents and other family members living on the other side of the world.
Naturally, my mum and dad would still get the traditional photographs, but this is something different. As Sharon put it, this quirky photography is really a kind of teamwork. If you read the comments at the bottom of the Jason Lee article, the girls mainly choose the situations, and he just shoots it. He’s getting to spend some quality time with his kids, whilst doing something he enjoys, encouraging them to use their imagination, and keeping grandma happy all at the same time.
As you can see from his website, Lee is an accomplished professional wedding photography, so his quirky kids images probably wouldn’t be taken that seriously, but I don’t think he’d be concerned about that. It’s about having fun and using your imagination.
Would it be something I’d be willing to use for OCA study? I don’t know. But I’ll certainly give it a go when we get back from camping next week.
My People and Place Learning Log 
That definitely looks like fun and what a wonderful way for you to keep them in touch with their grandparents.
It’ll take a lot of research into processing though. I love the idea though!