A couple of weeks ago my sister in law asked me to take a portrait of two of her grandchildren. I have difficulty with the "say cheese!" sort of pictures and asked her to let me ponder awhile. I found this quote by Heraclitus, "Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play."
I liked the quote. Children are serious about their play. And they have a sense of wisdom and depth that I, as an adult, often ignore. This was my favorite. Yes, I got some of them laughing, but this is more of what I was after.
Just read an interesting article about "portraits". Most of the time we want our subjects to "cheese", but maybe they aren't the "say cheese" kinda person at all !
And therefore, you don't really "catch" THEM. Made me think.
While I agree with your sentiment/concept or desire to show the children like this, rather than "cheese for the camera,"
I don't interpret the quote from Heraclitus the same way as you do...in fact I see (interpret/understand) it as quite the opposite of what I suppose you do.
There lies the wonderful way that things can be seen differently by different people.
Adorable, and the ages of my two grandsons. I tell them to say "Purple People Eater" and they start laughing - that's when I shoot. Still, the are often looking to the side or have their eyes closed in many shots!
