It's All Right Making Photos Looking Down On Children
A highly emotive portrait of a young boy on St. Thomas Mount near Chennai, India.
You know the drill, which you've probably heard in relation to photographing children. "Don't shoot down on children" was what I was taught. I guess it comes from the notion of not talking down to children, which I don’t believe I’ve ever done.
Of course all rules are meant to be broken. You just have to know when its appropriate to do so. Sometimes kids, just like kitty cats, look cute when photographed from above.
The face of innocence on a beautiful baby, just woken from sleep, in Chennai, India.
I guess the reason why it's not considered right to photograph children from an elevated position is because, by doing so, you can make them look vulnerable or powerless in the resulting image. But what if that was the desired outcome?
Let's say you've been commission by an international aid organization to travel to the horn of Africa to photograph children in an over crowded and under resourced refugee camp. With an influx of new arrivals the camp is put under enormous strain. The ability to provide food, clean drinking water and sanitation have been compromised and the threat of disease looms large. You get the picture!
Money and lots of it is needed to deal with this problem in the short term. Your job is to make photographs that elicit an emotional and, as a consequence, a financial response from Middle America - a term I’m using to describe the middle class throughout the western world.
Photographing A Refugee Camp: The Initial Visit
Under normal circumstances this is not the way I would recommend photographing children and, in fact, I believe it may even be frowned upon by NGO's concerned with being politically correct. But there is always a time and a place where almost any rule may need to be broken. You should be clear in your mind why you're photographing children from a downwards angle and comfortable that the advantages of such action far outweighs any associated negative affects.
Photographing A Refugee Camp: Return Visits
Future visits to the area might allow you to photograph the children in a different manner. Improved health care, families re-united, greater safety and a genuine sense of hope for a return to a more normal life are examples of the story you could tell. And what an opportunity that would be for the concerned photographer. As the child’s health, security and well-being increases it’s appropriate to photograph them from eye level and, in some case, to further empower them by photographing from a lower angle of view.
The angle of view from which the photographer makes her photographs is a powerful tool in telling the story they need to tell.
Looking downwards on a vulnerable ihave just fallen out of a tree.
Working With Children And Animals
The above photo features a baby possum. It was found, orphaned, along the side of the road. It's an old photo from my film-based photography days. Friends of mine, with some experience in caring for injured or orphaned wildlife, ended up taking care of it.
I made this photo by placing the baby possum on the grass and photographed, from an extreme angle, downwards to emphasize its vulnerability. I've used the image several times to draw attention to the plight of injured or orphaned wildlife. I love its mouse-like appearance and the apparent gesture associated with its outstretched hand.
The greatest photographs that deal with adversity seem to share one common element: a duality between negative circumstances and the potential for positive outcomes. It's the underlying resilience within your subject that needs to be explored, regardless of their current circumstances. For within that moment hope resides and, ultimately, I feel hope is at the core of what any donor wants to offer those they support.
