From Snapshot to Fine Art

Baby and Watering Can — Muskoka, Ontario 2004
Panasonic LC1 @ ISO 100
80mm focal length equivalent. f/2.4 at 1/50 sec
On the Way to Art
Every photographer is a snapshooter at heart. I don't know of a fine art photographer, regardless of their pretentious, who didn't also take snapshots. Especially pictures of members of their family, and in particular children and babies. It simply goes with the territory of being a photographer and of having taking photographs as a way of life. It's how we see the world and how we share it with others.
Most of the time these family photos and snapshots end up in an album, and occasionally, if they're really good, as a framed print. But once in a very rare while an image can rise above its origins and become a fine art print. This essay is a detailed look at the esthetic as well as the technical decisions that went into the making ofBaby and Watering Can, seen above.
The Snapshot
A warm August day at my summer house. My 18 month old grand nephew Luca...