Children Portrait : Alina Mayboroda

Alina Mayboroda – I never thought I would become a photographer and that it would become the main focus of my life. A few years ago, after receiving an SLR camera as a present, I started to take pictures of my children. What followed was a long journey – I studied and experimented with various forms and genres of photography. I gradually transitioned from being an economist to a photographer –

I made my home my studio and photography became an important, joyful, and vital part of my life. I shot portraits, still life, landscapes, and after some time, returned to what I began with: taking photographs exclusively of my children primarily for our family archive.

There is so much sincerity, light, and simplicity in children portrait, it is so interesting to take pictures of them as they are full of love, surprises, and are generally open to the world. I love and am fascinated by children’s eyes: their stares, glances, and how they look upon the world. Most commonly, I create portraits of my oldest daughter.

Taking pictures of children brings me great joy. All photographs I take of them I consider to be a joint-effort, as everyone participates in the process, through expressing their own opinions, improvising, assisting in the search of further details; I only set the overall direction of the work. As a rule, after becoming inspired to create a certain photograph, my imagination takes off and I start to envision the future photograph in more and more detail; this takes time, sometimes more than a month. Children love to help me search for these crucial elements from creation, we walk throughout stores and shops for those lovers of creativity.

Sometimes I see a certain element or detail, such as beautiful acorns hanging from a tree, and I then desire to take a portrait of these acorns in my daughter’s hair. Or I witness some beautiful moments, such as a child playing the cello; this moment is magical to me, as if music is being born out of the hands of a child, and I want to be able to keep this moment in my memory forever. And here we are, giving life to this conceived photography.

When everything is ready (the shooting process itself does not take much time), my little models have great experience, the right background has been chosen, soft music is playing, a ray of light shines, and a little bit of a miracle, even then there is still one more piece to complete my world of photography. Sometimes our cats peek into the frame of the shot, as they also love to be photographed, to play with children, and to participate in all that we do. This is how unplanned and spontaneous photographs are born.

For me, it is easy to work with children, as we fully understand each other, having similar feelings of great and unconditional trust. These are all wonderful conditions for creativity to sprout wings and take off, when nothing is being disturbed or prevented, and my inspiration also sprouts wings and soars.

I can say to my daughter, “I want to see in your eyes this or that,” and she can give it to me, which the onlooker can exactly read in these photographs. My daughter is very talented; she herself is an artist and I can ask her for advice, such as which photograph she finds the most successful and effective, and I always receive constructive advice from her.

It is impossible for me to not take photographs, it is a very important part of my life. Our world is full of sorrows, I see this and my heart cannot remain indifferent. It cries, and so then I take my camera and change this world the way I know how to and am able to. As a woman and a mother, I extend the olive branch to my viewers through my photographs and speak about love, spring, music, flowers, youth, and childhood. What can be more important?

Looking over our photographs again, I immerse myself in the moments and the days of when they were created, seeing what my children were like and how we created these photographs, and I feel that intimate warmness which we had put into the creation of our works those moments and days long gone. I hope you also feel this.

The world of my photographs is not entirely real, but I want that it would be like that; it is an island of my joy and beauty and I gift it to all who view my photographs.

We have all been children, and despite the fact that we grew up or have grown old, that child is still inside of us, still a part of us. In my photographs, I want to talk with you about our inner-child, about the cleanliness and transience of this time, childhood, and about the fragility and vulnerability of beauty. I want that our love of children is reflected in your heart, and that you retain a bright smile and kind memories of your childhood. [Translation from Russian by  Andrew Paul Deaville, Ottawa.] [Official Website]