Every once in a while I have to pay tribute to the classic baby picture and Staci has made it easy for me. The light, the body, the smile, the timelessness—all wonderful. Please, if there’s a baby in your life, make sure the little person grows up with a photograph of himself or herself that’s even close to this one. In this day and age of digital photography owning a photograph of yourself as a baby that looks like this should be in the Photography Bill of Rights.

It’s great subject matter. Yet another cat has gone one branch too high and isn’t coming coming down anytime soon. Sharon has decided to take advantage, but she has masterfully dealt with a difficult exposure situation by adding a little pop of a flash. Not enough flash to destroy the mood—just enough to fill in the shadows. It’s a good trick to know about and she’s executed it in the heat of battle. The cat and the moment live.

You may not be aware of this but retrieval of a model rocket is a personal victory for any boy. (One of my first cameras was the CamRoc. It was a nose-cone camera with a rubber band triggered shutter. I photographed the neighbor’s house’s from 800 feet up and tried to sell them prints born in my basement darkroom for 25 cents. Sales were slow. I digress.) Anyway, there’s a lot that can go wrong in the rocket launching business. My point is this; the rocket this boy built has been to space and back. The dream came true and….

I can just hear the kids re-telling the story. “And then my great-aunt made us lay down on the beach and we spelled out the word love and sent the picture to our parents.” All of the other kids in the dorm room at college will marvel at how lucky they were to have great-aunt like Kathy. Photography can open so many doors and cement so many moments and memories.  

I used to feel that putting words in photographs was a cheap trick but people like Cheryl keep proving me wrong. I think I need to retract and stand corrected. This picture is simple and elegant and oozes with personality. It’s Logan and he’s captured in time for all time. Perfectly lovely.

 I have to assume that Shannon’s original plan was to include the child’s face in this picture. But when things went “wrong” she just went with the flow and kept pushing the button. The result is a wonderful record of childhood resistance. There will be countless opportunities to record the face later, but for now it’s all about body language. (And notice how that little bit of red trim on the hat adds such an artistic flair. Wonderful.)  Photographs like this are not planned. They’re little gifts to receptive photographers who keep their eyes open.

Isn’t it amazing that this is unmistakably a picture of an elephant? Just a little bit of skin and everyone knows— boom! Elephant! And then, the stone wall beautifully compliments it as another juxtaposed texture framing this incredible beast. Mina has applied a wonderful eye for detail to an artful and compelling scene at the zoo.