I knew when I saw this smile, I had to capture it.
There is something special about a baby's smile that is so open and full and big--like a giant face hug. I try to smile like that but then my children complain so I leave it to the babies of the world to open mouth smile as much as possible.
When I saw this image of Tatum on my computer after the shoot, it immediately got earmarked as a favorite and sent off to Light room for a black and white conversion. Sometimes an image begs to become colorless with only black and white to pull out emotions that sometimes hide behind color. But more than color or no color, this picture is great because the baby is adorable and sweet and lets me squeeze her thighs at church! She had a rough start but is doing great now.
So, anyway, I guess someone else liked it as much as her parents and I and "big smiley" got first place in a photo contest.
The prizes?
Bragging rights that a photographer I admire and blog stalk, Skye Johansen, picked it out of over 700 other amazing images!!! I am talking seriously amazing pictures of babies. So seriously amazing that if I could talk to Skye I would be like, "Are you so sure????" and "Are you sure you don't need to tally up the scores again?" and "Can we be best friends now?"
The other prize?
Unlimited access to thigh squeezing.
Oh ya, and a little button too.
Ok. I am done tooting my horn. Off to enjoy the first day of summer.
