Everybody remembers his or her own childhood – some of those memories are good ones, and some are bad, especially when it comes to photography. Nearly everyone can share a story about the school or kindergarten photographer and some horrid photographs that were taken during one’s childhood. One was told to sit or act in a specific way and to smile. At a lot of times, the pictures seemed fake and strange. Even today, a lot of kindergarten photographers pose the children in the same, recurring way without focussing on a child’s individuality. Furthermore, as the children are so used today to being photographed with e.g. smartphones while being asked to smile or make funny faces, they have mostly learned that photography is an act and that it asks them to change their personality.
These images do not show who the children truly are. However, we believe that it is utterly important not to tell the children how to behave for a photograph, but to simply let them be themselves. That allows us to get a glimpse of the true nature of each child. The more children we photographed, the clearer it got that the work we are doing is so important – not only for the parents to see, but especially for the children. Children are not constantly happy and smiling little humans, but wonderful and deep souls and we hope that our series „Childhood: Kindergarten Portraits“ reflects a little bit of the truth and soul within each child.
