Insight/On the Cover by Bill Hurter

This issue started out being all about kids and families and how to photograph them, but quickly turned into a portfolio of articles about the nation’s finest children’s photographers. Like all phases of portraiture, children’s portraiture has changed. Instead of the cookie-cutter posed portraits that we grew up with, today’s children’s portrait artists dig deeper to reveal the essence, personality and inner spirit of children. Stacy Bratton, (page 8) owner of the 11,000-square-foot SD/SK Studio in downtown Dallas, TX, is extremely successful and “absolutely loves photographing babies.” Not only does she offer one-of-a-kind customer service to her clients, she also claims to be able to “charm the living daylights out of sometimes-cranky two-year-old babies.” Jean Marie Reed (page 14) has had successful careers as a fashion model and fashion photographer and is now producing her own line of baby calendars. She used her training and sensitivity from her prior two careers to create “Baby Circus,” a signature collection of magical images that now form the flagship of her marketing efforts. Deanna Urs (page 20) is another top-rated photographer to come from a completely different industry.

Deanna was in the top one percent of 4000 agents in a large insurance company. Now she is a fine portrait artist who specializes in children and families. She spoils her clients, whom she calls “guests,” and will stop at nothing to make them happy with the portraits she makes. Judy Host (page 26) loved photographing children but wanted her work to be unique. She set out on a quest to define her own style, separate and different from all the other children’s portrait photographers she’d seen. Her journey was one of personal fulfillment and great joy as she now enjoys a special niche of her own making. Michael Van Auken (page 44), a children’s portrait specialist from Northern California, used to do high-volume work and then a lot of corporate work before he found his comfort level photographing kids. He’s also done weddings and fashion work and each month spends a fair amount of time looking at the photography in fashion magazines. His particular style blends the different disciplines he’s worked in, and the results are stunning. Also included this month are profiles on three other fabulous children’s photographer, including Hagit Baruch (page 86), Suzanne Maitland (page 80) and Laura Cantrell (page 54).

Bill Hurter, Editor

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stacy Dail Bratton
CLIENT: Arjun and Niyamat Puri
MODELS: Ishan, 9 days old, and Niyamat Puri
BACKGROUNDS: Black velvet in the background. Black velvet fabric covering the entire bodies of the
subjects, except the feet, which are propped up
on apple crates.
CAMERA: Mamiya RZ-67 Pro
LENS: 140 macro
FILM: Kodak T-Max 100
MAIN LIGHT: Speedotron Blackline Quadhead
with Chimera Super Pro 54x72 Lightbox
FILL LIGHT: White Fome-Cor
RETOUCHING: none
COMMENTS: “The simplicity of this image is deceiving. My subject, Ishan, was 9 days old and not excited about being covered in black velvet. He was lying in the crook of his mothers legs, while her feet were holding baby’s somewhat unwilling feet into the photo. Ishan was very tiny at birth, my goal was to show the scale of his feet versus his mother’s feet.”

Stacy Dail Bratton is a commercial and portrait photographer, book author and owner of the 11,000-square-foot SD/SK Studio in downtown Dallas, TX. She credits both one-of-a-kind customer service and her ability to “charm the living daylights out of sometimes-cranky two-year-old babies” as keys to her success. See the story on Stacy beginning on page 8.