Anne Geddes

Anne Geddes

Anne Geddes was born in Queensland, Australia, in 1956. Though she has always had an interest in how strong photos can be, she didn’t start messing around with a camera until she was in her mid-twenties, when she actually taught herself how to take pictures. Anne Geddes is most known for her pictures of babies, which celebrate life and birth.

            Currently Anne Geddes is living and working in New Zealand. Not only is she a photographer but she is also a clothing designer, and a business woman. In most of her pictures, the babies are dressed up as cute things such as fairies, animals, and flowers.

            The picture I picked to critique is a photograph of a grandpa holding a tiny baby in his hands. By the content of the picture we can assume that the baby is the older man’s grandchild. The fact that the photograph can be a grandpa and grandchild, makes this documentary. It is recording a point of time in the grandpa and baby’s life. I could see a family getting pictures like this of their newborns to record and show the new addition to their family. This makes it seem like the intention of the photographer was to help families record memories of this point in their life that they can keep forever. I think it could also be representing the difference between being just born and having lived a long time.

Anne Geddes used a direct approach while she was taking this picture. The way that the baby is being held shows a curve that matches the curve of the grandpa’s stomach which makes this picture interesting to look at. The angle was taken directly in front of the grandpa and baby which I think is a good idea when taking portraits like this one. It really makes the central focus on the baby and grandpa. The light that is shining mainly on the baby and the front of the grandpa really emphasizes them and makes them look brighter than the background.

            There are a lot of lines in the wrinkles in the grandpa’s shirt and also in his hat and glasses. The texture between the grandpa and baby makes an interesting contrast. While the grandpa’s skin is wrinkly and shows signs of age, the baby has smooth skin that shows how new it is to this planet. I love that this picture shows a bond between family members.