Australian photographer Karen Alsop is well-known for her heartwarming project Christmas Wish. In the year that’s been challenging on so many levels, it was also challenging to keep the project alive. But Karen and her team still found a way to use photography and bring smiles to the faces of children who are spending holidays in the hospital. Despite the restrictions, the Christmas Wish worldwide team created incredible works of art for these sick children the fifth year in a row.
Five superpowers that every family photographer needs
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Way back in January, before Covid-19 was part of our lives, (remember that? It was before we knew that furlough was a real word, before we knew what WFH stood for, and before we put anti-bac on everything), I wrote a little blog about what it’s actually like to be a photographer. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here. Lockdown has given me a fair bit of time to think (but surprisingly little time to do – has anyone else found that?!) and following on from that blog, I’ve realised a few things about what takes a family photographer to the next level. They’re things I try and practice myself, or things I admire about photographers that are way further down the road than I am.
How to take better photos of your kids
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If you are a parent with a passion for taking good photos of your kids, this guide will walk you through it and help to improve your skills. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below. Happy learning!
Photographers from all over the world come together to make Christmas happier for children in hospitals
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Four years ago, Karen Alsop started The Christmas Wish Project with a goal to make Christmas happier for sick children in Australia. The project has since gone global, and this year it included volunteers, photographers and composite artists from all over the world. They all joined forces to create magical Christmas-inspired art and put a smile on children’s faces during this holiday season.
School photographer causes outrage after offering retouching services for eight-year-olds
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Retouching portraits isn’t at all uncommon, and most photographers include it in their services. But if we talk about portraits of children, this becomes a rather sensitive topic. Journalist Sam Walker recently expressed her outrage with a school photographer who offered “basic and premium retouching” for annual school photos of eight-year-olds. The packages included blemish removal, teeth whitening, and evening skin tones.
These photos ended child labor in the US
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At the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. had a major child labor problem. The children were working in mills, fields, mines and factories, and the statistic says that one in five children under 16 were working at this time. But one photographer’s work helped to put this to an end. In this video from Vox, you’ll hear the story of Lewis Wickes Hine. His powerful images of child workers from the early 20th century contributed to the end of child labor in the United States.
10 tips for getting kids to smile naturally in photos – secrets from a children’s photographer
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Everyone has been taught from birth how to get a kid to smile. You just tell them to say “cheese” and they respond with a nice big natural smile, right? Well, anyone that’s actually tried this can testify to how well it works (if you didn’t catch my sarcasm… it doesn’t). You end up with a photo of a kid with clenched teeth, a scrunched nose, and raised eyebrows. In this article, I’m going to give away all of my secrets that I’ve picked up as a professional children’s photographer for getting nice, natural smiles out of children.
Photographer captures children and their most precious toys around the world
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Think of the time when you were a kid and had your favorite toys. Remember how happy you were to have them and proud to show them off? Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti has traveled the world photographing kids and their most prized possessions: their favorite toys. In this photo series, he brings you stories of kids and their toys from more than 50 countries.
How magic ponies can help to keep kids and pets under control in front of your camera
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They say to never work with children or animals, but as a photographer, it sometimes can’t be helped. I avoid kids at all cost, preferring animals. Photographer, Paul Monaghan, though, is happy to photograph kids, as he recently did for some school portraits. Of course, photographing a bunch of little kids isn’t easy.
They have short attention spans and get distracted easily. They don’t want to have to sit and look at a camera pretending to enjoy themselves. So, Paul enlisted the help of his “magic pony”. It’s a great technique to get the attention of those you want to face the camera, so DIYP had a chat with Paul about it.
12 photographers unite to create a fantasy photo book and comfort sick children
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We’ve featured the heart-warming, beautiful projects of The heART Project before. This time, 12 photographers came together to create a wonderful photo storybook, The Get Well Tree. It contains 14 photos that look like they came straight out of a fairy tale. But the main characters are real-life girls, two little heroes.
Evie Gleeson (5) and Indy Dawes (4) met two and a half years ago in a hospital where they were undergoing childhood cancer treatment. Over this time, they became close friends, and they both managed to fight the illness. Now they want to encourage other sick children through their story. So, they posed for the photos that became a part of the Get Well Tree book. We share these amazing photos with you, together with the video and the story.
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