07 July 2013

Little Girl Portrait




Little Girl Portrait
Portraits Of My Adopted Cousin Nikki

Since I started working in Manila, my time spent at home for vacation is short and limited. As such that my family takes an extra effort to have everyone present when I am around. Sweet! And since I am the family's self proclaimed pro-photographer, I tasked myself to take the portrait of each of my beloved siblings including relatives that actually lived with us.


The little girl featured in this post is my adopted cousin Nicole or Nikki as we call her. Mind you, before Nikki came into our lives as an adopted daughter of my Aunt, we were already a big family with Six children of Five rowdy boys and only One girl. My parents tried to conceive children whenever my Dad is at home and off work from his Seafaring job. Off course, they had wanted to have another girl-princess in the family, unfortunately my Mom had a miscarriage on their supposedly 7th child that she was carrying for 7 months, it was the girl that they had been hoping for. It had been many years now, but it brought grief to both my parents, even now, about Six years since it happened; they'd both fall silent and cry remembering the loss.

The boys are growing up, and while they are loved and allowed to go as rowdy as they can, it's not easy to hold fast to growth, my Dad loves to have children around him, noisy as it is, the children's laughter's and playfulness makes him happy just watching over them like the great Patriarch that he was. He's asking for grand children, just unfortunate that he married late, so his first Born's which is me and my sister, were both raised to be smart and practical adults that we are now are not yet ready for such a set up.


Nikki's coming into our lives was a blessing. She is a 2nd child of a Single Mom, she was offered to my Aunt weeks prior to her birth, as her real grandparents can't take another fatherless child to feed and take care off. My Aunt on the other hand is separated from her husband; she stays with us to help take care of our only surviving Grandma. Mind you, my Aunt doesn't know how to take care of children more so in raising one. So it came to pass that everyone in the family, even my younger brothers took turns watching over Nikki as she grows, day by day becoming one of the boys in the family, it's not surprising that she thinks of my Parents as her own, my Sister became like a surrogate Mom tending to her needs from Diapers to formula milks, as for me, I was her Ninong that comes home once in a while bringing her chocolates and goodies that she devours with gusto. Such a voracious feeder, from Time to time, my Mom would bring home dresses she could find in thrift shops and departments stores, it seems like my Mom found her own little Barbie-Princess to dress, my Dad on the other hand found a grandchild he can watch over, spoil and dote, she keeps him happy and pre-occupied.


I set up to take these photos, hanging a white cotton bed sheet on a wall, I have no extra flashes or speed lights, just an external flash that I can rotate to achieve a bounce light. The set was easy, but encouraging Nikki to do poses for me was the real challenge. I didn't know it would be very difficult to take portraits of children; for one thing Nikki is use to moving around a lot, we have a big house, and she's used to walking around, wobbling confidently like a landlord. Her attention span is very short, and she doesn't like to look directly at the camera, so the few shots with her looking at the lens is considered a lucky shot. While she is basking for the attention she's getting from being photographed, I only got her to stand in front of the camera for just a few minutes after her Kuya's (my younger brothers) had done posing for me.


Looking at these frames, I'm glad to have taken them personally, and as it is, they are ready to be printed for her and my family to cherish and remember in the years to come. Was it difficult to photograph children? It was my first time but yes it was, but I can say that the rewards are worth the effort. My family would be looking at these frames in a few months from now, to be hung in the wall with the other portraits, including mine.



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10 comments:

  1. Children are interesting subjects for photographs. I can see she's a very cute girl. Maybe you should get more pictures of her in an informal set-up like taking pictures of her without her knowledge while she's playing, just sitting about,or anything. I'm sure you'll get more treasured photographs to add to what the family already has.

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    1. She actually has a lot of photographs in that settings..
      I remember giving her a bag of chocolates that she ate with gusto, and messy..
      You should see her face.
      She then bugged me to death so I didnt get to sleep just because she wanted to please me.

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  2. I love the second photo in this post. This litle girl is so lovely. She looks amazing. Such a darling!

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    1. She's grown a bit, but still,one of the boys in the family..
      Also, everyone's barbie doll.
      That dress she's wearing is a gift from my Mom.

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  3. Losing a child is an event that can never be forgotten. Nice to know that pretty Nikki brings joy to the family. Try taking photos of her while she's playing. It would look natural that way. :)

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    1. I have those, it just feels too personal to blog them

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  4. totally love her second and last photo! she protrays and give some model look in those pictures!

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    1. I like them too, but man, it was sooo hard to take those photos.

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  5. She is a gem, very pretty. I have to agree with you that it is hard to photograph kids, for so many times we go to studio to have a family picture but the kids just dont cooperate.

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  6. True, so hard to get them to a level of attention you need.
    Their eyes just wander arround all the time.
    it was a good thing my siblings were their to keep het attentive, for a few seconds at least

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