Salad Days Competition – The winners shoot

Last year I ran a competition in Salad Days magazine. For those of you who don’t know Salad Days it is a great listings magazine for children in the Saffron Walden area in Essex. I have been involved with Salad Days from the first issue and I photograph the front cover images for Harriet, the editor. Almost a year ago now we decided it would be a great idea to run a competition over the summer holidays, something to keep the kids entertained and something fun. The brief was to send in a portrait photograph taken by the child and we would then judge the images to decide on a winner. It was a hard decision but Hettie’s picture really stood out to me. It was in black and white (always good) and showed a baby crawling towards the lens with her mother just visible in the background. A really fun, dynamic composition. I was very impressed and even more so when I discovered the photo had been taken by the baby herself on her mothers ibook computer!

The prize was a family shoot and a framed 12″x8″ print and a week ago we did the shoot. Hettie was a joy to photograph and joined by her twin brother Jonty and older sister Flora we spent a wonderful few hours playing in the garden and taking lots of pictures. Here are a few of my favorites which I hope you will enjoy.