Response to High Key Princess

She is quite beautiful, and she is also beautiful as a subject of photography. However (and I continue based just on personal ramblings and with the greatest of respect), baby shots such as these lack strength because their facial expressions and overall facial character can't often portray personality, happiness, sorrow, thought processes, or life experiences to the degree that portraits of older subjects do. The photograph of the FSA migrant mother comes to mind as an example, although an extreme comparison. My point is, I guess, when you look at a baby shot, it's like "OK, cute kid. Shot looking straight down. Kid's probably thinking, 'What the heck is Dad doing now?,'" but so what? I will say that the look in her eyes seems to be that she is preoccupied or seriously considering something. My own feeling is that if you're going for a strong, evokative, emotional, or controversial (etc...) statement kind of photograph, you're are trying the impossible or at least the impractical. But keep taking photographs of her. The kind of shots that you will end up will be much more important to you than "strong, evokative" photography any day!

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