(September 1953, Australia)
Anne Geddes is an Australian photographer, clothing designer and business woman who lives and works in New Zealand. It is known for its stylized representations of babies and motherhood. Typical images show babies or toddlers dressed as fairies and creatures from fairy tales, flowers or small animals. She has described herself as “a baby monster.”
The Geddes books have been published in 83 countries. According to Amazon.com, which has sold more than 18 million books and 13 million calendars. In 1997, Cedco Publishing sold more than 1.8 million calendars and agendas that Geddes’ photography carries. His first book, Down in the Garden, made it to the New York bestseller list. His books have been translated into 23 different languages.
In his autobiography of 2007, a work of love, Geddes spoke of his first difficult years on his family cattle farm in Queensland, Australia. She left school at age 17 and went home. Thereafter he married Kel, and moved to Hong Kong in 1983, for his work on television. Not at age 25, she learned single photography using her husband’s 35mm Pentax K1000 camera. By the time the couple returned to Sydney two years later, a small wallet had been built. She began taking pictures of the baby, after the photographs she clicked of her two daughters for a family Christmas card.
Career
Geddes became a photographer at 25, moved to Melbourne where, because of her husband’s work, she worked as a photographic assistant helping a local photographer before starting her own studio in her garage.
He always had an interest in photography in general, but chose babies as his photographic object because of his love for them. “I had seen the way in which children and babies were usually photographed, it just does not seem realistic to me that people took their children throughout the photo studios all dressed in their finery, photographs that do not really show the child’s personality.”
During the progression of his career, Geddes created his own philanthropic program called “Geddes Philanthropic Foundation”; Its main objective was to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect. Her philanthropic program raised many opportunities for not only her community, but also her business. His philanthropic work has been very successful in recent years. In 2013, a series of survivors of meningococcal disease was created. The photographs show all the families, and the children, who were affected by the terrible disease, but honor those who have survived. She shot photographs of 15 child survivors of meningitis for the protection of our future: Portraits of the meningococcal disease campaign.
Geddes believes that “emotional content is the most important element of an image” and that people are attracted to their work because of its simplicity and personality. She prefers black and white photography of color photography. She prefers the black and white outline because she feels that color distracts from the image and the natural beauty of life.
Process
Geddes do not audition babies for use as models because they are “too unpredictable”. Instead, he keeps in contact with multiple birth and individual clubs, and has thousands of photographs in the file that the parents have sent him. Geddes travels to the United States every year in search of black babies to photograph, as New Zealand has a very small black population.
A typical session takes place in the morning when the babies are well rested, and lasts about half an hour, otherwise the babies get too bored or restless. “You have to be very fast,” says Geddes about getting good shots. She establishes her study in Advance-accessories, lighting, cameras and equipment so that all the baby or babies have to do is sit down. Many of their props are made to measure, such as oversized shoes and pots. She keeps the parents of the babies nearby to receive additional assistance with expressions.
Links
Some of her photos:
You might also like
