I have a daughter. I happen to think she’s a great kid, though I’m probably biased 🙂 Any of you who have children and smartphones probably have hundreds of images of your kids’ faces, taken close up. You know the ones. When they take your phone and wander off with it and you find it later with all the storage taken up and the settings messed around.
My kid is no exception. I have loads of photos and short videos of her squeaking or giggling or sticking out her tongue. Precious tiny moments captured in time, her face changing as she grows, gorgeous baby chubbiness giving way to smooth angles. I delete them off my phone because I need the storage, but not before saving them elsewhere.
However, when she was about four, she took a series of photos that surprised me when I saw them. I found them again the other day while looking for something else, which is what prompted me to write this post. They were taken in our old house in Australia, in the rear bedroom. The room had a long high window and faced towards the setting sun, so at certain times of day the light in there was very bright, the shadows dark and dramatic. It must have caught her fancy as well, for here are the photos she took:
Sure, maybe I’m veering into over-sharing, proud parent territory. But I think these are kind of cool, especially for a four-year-old. My Dad is an excellent amateur photographer and has taken some beautiful photos, so perhaps she’s inherited some of that from him. She still loves to take photos. And I love to encourage her 🙂
Helen Glynn Jones 
Good eye that one.
Thanks – she’s a pretty cool kid (and she doesn’t know I posted this) 🙂
My family has no idea what I post either. I think they’re pretty cool too. They have different interests and don’t read blogs.
Which is cool indeed 🙂
Your daughter has an artistic eye
Thanks, Barbara – I think she does too 🙂
They are really ‘cool’—she has a mature and artistic eye, and especially for one so young! I love the title of your post, too: ‘Barbie Noir’. It captures the atmosphere of the photos!
Thanks Louise – it was a fun post to write, too. I did love the photos when she took them – am still considering making one a canvas for her bedroom.
Always good to encourage them Helen, my youngest is a keen photographer too, it runs in our family too, my Grandfather and Uncle ran a photography business in Edinburgh before the outbreak of the war. 🙂
Oh, that’s very cool – nice when it runs in the family. And I agree, it’s always good to encourage creativity and imaginative thinking. 🙂
Yes couldn’t agree more. Both of my girls are creatively inclined neither of them are scientists, or mathematicians! Harder to make money perhaps, but more fun 🙂
Definitely more fun 😉
That set of photographs is certainly neot… The last pic could easily fit a Halloween story don´t you think…. the shades of a possible tree alongside the designs on the pillow provide a quite eerie background, so to speak…Sending best wishes. Aquileana 🐉☀️
Thanks, Aquileana – I agree, they are quite atmospheric images – I do wonder what she was thinking or trying to capture when she took them 🙂 Best wishes to you too xx
I didn’t notice Barbie in bed in the first two photos and then I saw the rest. I was wondering where Ken was at the time? None-the-less, I think you have a new female version of David Bailey living with you, Helen.
Thanks, Hugh 🙂 We didn’t have a Ken doll at the time LOL. Though if it’s Barbie Noir, maybe she did away with him 😉
There’s a great short story in that, Helen. 🙂
😀
You know this is the kind of thing you could sell for THOUSANDS. I love these photos. Isn’t it wonderful to get an insight into the mind of a child. See what they see – and clearly she sees beauty in light and dark, in the artistry of shading and colour. Ok, maybe not consciously, but still. She has an eye, and I Love them.
Thanks Sacha – someone else said that to me at the time, that I should sell the photos. Which is very nice of you to say 🙂 I had thought of getting one done as a canvas for her room, as I really like them. And it was very interesting to get an insight into what she was seeing. I still encourage her to take photos whenever she wants to, that’s for sure. xx
Absolutely, college fund!! I think i may have to do this with my boy, see what he discovers!
Definitely do it! It’s really interesting to see the world through their eyes.