florida boy

 

He was born in California, but to my good fortune moved to Florida, his mother’s childhood home, before he turned two. So he’s a Florida boy now. I’ve been photographing him and his successive sweet little brothers for 4 years. There are children who’ve come before my camera that I can’t imagine never photographing, and he is one of them. Seeing him grow through the lens of my camera has truly been a gift.

It would be easy to assume that I love photographing him because he’s a physically beautiful child, but honestly that’s not it. He’s not a model, but a typical little boy with high energy, short attention span, and an aversion to anything remotely sounding like coaching or instruction from me. So for the most part we do things his way, and I’m good with that.

While it seems that many of the kids I’m especially fond of photographing are the rather shy/introspective/misfit types I so closely identify with, this boy is different. I think I love photographing him so much because he exhibits characteristics I wish I possessed in greater quantity. He exudes confidence and is so completely comfortable in his own skin that as I follow him around with camera I’ve no doubt he’s a born leader. That he also has a kind heart only adds to his charismatic presence.

Hanging out with him one on one is so fun for me that I have a tendency to lose track of time. When this recently happened, he held out as long as he could until very gently and diplomatically announcing, “I think we should be done now”. And like the obedient little photographer I am in his company I quickly answered, “right”. We were done, with me as usual looking forward to my next session with this Florida boy and his brothers.

~Cynthia