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Response to Are children people?

from shawn (seeinsideforever@yahoo.com)
Hi Cristel, the most important (for me) pictures I have ever taken are of my best friend's daughter, to whom I'm--in her words--a surrogate father (what a wierd thing that just did to my tummy. yuck. or ugh. or hummm.).

Unfortunately, however, I think a lot of photographers get WAY too sentimental when photographing children, either their own or others. Indeed, as per your title, I think many view children as something other than 'people', more as blank ideals upheld moreso to satisfy the photographer (his or her vision of Utopia)than capture the child. Of course, children being children, in the typical photographic sense, is cool. But children cry, think, feel, long for, hurt, etc. just like other 'people'. And while I may not wish to capture certain aspects as these, I still want those aspects to be seen in the child's eyes when I'm photographing her deceptively innocent smile...look at Sally Mann. Those children are people in the fullest sense of the word, occasionally they are even to real for me to bear.

(posted 8626 days ago)

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