Toddler portrait of little Owen entranced by bubbles

One of the joys that children bring into our lives is their ability to notice the everyday wonders of the world. It’s be hard to impress anyone over the age of eight with bubbles, but here little Owen sits wide-eyed and entranced. He cannot peel his eyes away from these magical globes as they float gently downwards, before popping and disappearing.

As parents, guardians and photographers, we often focus on capturing the smiles and laughs of children. But like any of us they have a full range of emotions, and my job is to capture as much of that range as possible, not just one extreme. For children who are more serious, gentle-natured or shy, a portrait without a smile is perhaps a better record of who they are right now, and what they are like. Even for more bubbly and outgoing children, I always aim to capture at least a few portraits with alternative expressions rather than all smiles.

I love Owen’s complete concentration on the bubbles here, but also how he has raised his arm, as if waiting for his chance to reach out for one of these delicate orbs. This gesture makes him active in the scene, rather than just an observer.

In the original shot, there is only the one bubble in the frame – the one Owen is looking towards. I’ve used a little bit of Photoshop magic to make a composite image, bringing in a couple of bubbles from other shots taken at the same time. These add interest and detail to the right-hand side of the image, and are more representative of the waterfalls of bubbles we created in the studio that day when setting up the shot!

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Sarah Plater is a portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography