Shemara – My own vision of children’s photography.

My strength lies in perfecting the image, this is my principle and vision.

My name is SHEMARA, Born in 1985 and I live in Rotterdam / The Netherlands . ( I only use my first name, for that I have a very good reason! ) I’m a professional image designer and since 2014 seriously working on my child photography.

As a child I was fascinated in taking pictures, which eventually resulted in a study photography. After 4 years, I graduated in 2006 from my study photography. After my studies I specialized myself in image designing in collaboration with advertising photographer John Janssen. The will to photograph, however, remained. After the birth of my first child, children’s photography became my passion! Now I am a mother of 2 kids.

I only want to photograph children and want to distinguish myself in this. My strength lies in perfecting the image, this is my principle and vision. I find it very important to connect with the children. The most important thing is to make them comfortable while photographing them and hoping they have fun! I would like to stand out within children’s photography. I love it when people like it, but mostly I want to be happy about my creations. I love the natural beauty of children. They are who they are.

SHEMARA - Marine life 02

“YOU CANNOT FORCE THEM AND YOU HAVE TO CATCH THE MOMENT THAT THEY GIVE YOU”.

Since the beginning of this year, I wanted to work on personal work, just to show my own vision of children’s photography.

Marine Life

Again I wanted to create still life portraits of children and I wanted to add a special subject. I thought of marine life. And all the children had to be 5 years old, like my son. All of this was in an effort to challenge myself. The models are friends from school and children I know. I knew it would not be easy by getting all the children holding a fish or living lobster. Funnily enough, the children were very brave with the fish. The fish smelled and were very slippery and cold.
To make the children comfortable with the photo shoot, I had a lot of seashells and starfish. I let them choose on their own and their choices were very surprising! Again I was very happy with the results and I sent my work to a children’s fashion magazine in America. They really loved it and published it in their spring/summer printed issue.

Of course I realize this project with a team of people helping. The fish are sponsored by a fish wholesaler. The seashells and starfish were borrowed from a friend. The clothes I could borrow a children’s clothing store. [Official Website]
SHEMARA - Marine life 08 SHEMARA - Marine life 11 SHEMARA - Marine life 10 SHEMARA - Marine life 09 SHEMARA - Marine life 07 SHEMARA - Marine life 05 SHEMARA - Marine life 04 SHEMARA - Marine life 03 SHEMARA - Marine life 01

SHEMARA - Marine life 06

Masked Venice.

I was inspired by a birthday party of a friend, the theme Venetian Bal Masque. I went looking for beautiful masks on the internet. Later, I went looking for beautiful photography in this theme, and found that there were not many nice pictures with children and Venice masks.
A project was born! I wanted to create still life portraits of children. I got the cooperation of a great Venetian mask shop in Amsterdam and friends how had some masks I could borrow.

I selected children between 5 and 9 years for photography. The child models I have found through friends and acquaintances. After the photography was finished, I have the pictures sent in for the PX3 awards and won a third prize! I am still very proud! It felt very good to invent my own projects so I went through with a new idea.

SHEMARA - Masked venice 04

SHEMARA - Masked venice 05 SHEMARA - Masked venice 03 SHEMARA - Masked venice 01

SHEMARA - Masked venice 02

More Stories

Dangling Conversation by Janez Vlachy

Dangling Conversation by Janez Vlachy

It is always great fun and an adventure to look at Vlachy's work, old or new. For quite some years, as in his first series Nudes, he is pursuing the same conceptual path In his new Dangling Conversation series.
Covid; Portrait series by Alkan Emin

Covid; Portrait series by Alkan Emin

Covid had struck planet earth and I was literally lost in all of my thoughts. I had these visions of the world ending and I felt like I was in a prison in my mind with all of this. 
Palya, The Stolen generations by Luigi Avantaggiato

Palya, The Stolen generations by Luigi Avantaggiato

«Stolen generations» is the name referred to Australian aboriginal and Torresian Island children who are removed from their families by Australian federal governments and religious missions, according to parliamentary norms.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/banner24.jpg

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

Transcending by Isabel Curdes

Transcending by Isabel Curdes

It is a story about life and death, about the beauty of our ephemeral existence and the acceptance that one day we will just be a memory…
Mystic India by Parul Sharma

Mystic India by Parul Sharma

Mystic India, an exhibition by Delhi based Fine Art Photographer Parul Sharma witnessed a phenomenal turnout at the prestigious public art space Museo Marino Marini. A record number of visitors attended the event where vistas of spiritual Hindu practices were juxtaposed in a city known for its deep-rooted Catholic traditions.
Interview with Roger Ballen, One of the most influential photographic artists of the 21st century

Interview with Roger Ballen, One of the most influential photographic artists of the 21st century

Roger Ballen was born in New York in 1950 but for over 30 years he has lived and worked in South Africa. His work as a geologist took him out into the countryside and led him to take up his camera and explore the hidden world of small South African towns.
Key of art photography by Dasha

Key of art photography by Dasha

One of the most exciting, artistic, creative genres in photography is the art of photography. No, this does not mean that other genres of photography are boring and unnecessary!
Men at work by Amlan Sanyal

Men at work by Amlan Sanyal

Add to that the damage caused by ‘extreme and treacherous’ weather. We all know how we get when the work isn’t carried out, moaning about tyre damage due to pot holes, potential crashes due to unclear road markings.
From three to twelve by Tatiana Kireicheva

From three to twelve by Tatiana Kireicheva

This story is dedicated to my father: for 40 years he lived in two houses - in Russia and the USA. He migrated when he was very young, received US citizenship and was practically unable to return to Russia (due to legal, political and other circumstances).
Suburban areas of Russia by Igor Askarov

Suburban areas of Russia by Igor Askarov

This work was made during the last year. I explored several suburban areas of Russia. All of them are 300-400 km away from Moscow. Most of the time I went by car.
Natura Mortale by Ilva Beretta

Natura Mortale by Ilva Beretta

According to Amnesty International, torture is practiced in 141 countries, both openly and in secret. Many of these countries have signed the UN convention against torture, but it still goes on.
Room 322 by Francesco Ridolfi

Room 322 by Francesco Ridolfi

I quickly realized that nowadays, taking a bath, is one of the rare situations completely for yourself, where you can take time and space, thinking, reflecting and maybe let emerge emotions deepen buried in your heart.
Circus Roncalli – Behind the Curtain by Christina Czybik

Circus Roncalli – Behind the Curtain by Christina Czybik

The flavor of Popcorn is blowing through the historic circus wagons – probably every other text about the visit to a circus starts with these words. I am smiling, but it is the first thing that I am sensing, too.
Lotus by Margaux

Lotus by Margaux

The perspective of discovering new countries and cultures was the main aspiration of this project. Drawn to capture black and white landscapes, it inspired me to communicate the dependent and integral relationship humans have with nature. 
Siberia by Karolina Wojtasik

Siberia by Karolina Wojtasik

In 2014 Karolina traveled via the trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to Ulan Ude, the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia.
Urban environments; Deconstruction by Lilyan Aloma

Urban environments; Deconstruction by Lilyan Aloma

The images in this body of work reflect my ongoing fascination with urban environments and the impact that commerce has on them. It is my attempt to resolve the visual tension created by the over-development of the city that I have lived in and loved most of my life.
Boxing; Muay Thai kids by Alain Schroeder

Boxing; Muay Thai kids by Alain Schroeder

Muay Thai kids project was selected and published in our print edition 20. Far from Thailand’s iconic tourist destinations, Isaan, the kingdom’s largest region, reaches north and east to the borders of Laos and Cambodia.
Another world by Maria Grazia Beruffi

Another world by Maria Grazia Beruffi

Dream, fear, hard work and endless love. This is my nephew's world, but also  many others’  who have a different perception of the reality. It is the so called ”Asperger syndrome", but I would say it is the most mysterious and uncontaminated state of mind. 
Car model; Moving India by Carsten Bockermann

Car model; Moving India by Carsten Bockermann

On my trips to India I noticed a certain car model that was to be seen everywhere and easily transcended the boundaries between social classes. It was driven by businessmen, government officials, taxi drivers and politicians.

Featured Stories

Between Intervals by Maren Klemp

Between Intervals by Maren Klemp

My goal with this project is to raise awareness of mental health. "Between Intervals" is a plunge into the darker sides of the human mind, and the photographs are visual representations of conditions associated with mental illness.
Fishshot by Javier Corso

Fishshot by Javier Corso

Fishshot is a documentary project about loneliness, emotional isolation, and sentimental repression in Finnish society. These problems go further when the people start drinking to fight against them. The excessive consumption of alcohol is present in more than half cases of suicide, homicide and gender violence.
Warehouse by Szymon Barylski

Warehouse by Szymon Barylski

Serbia, Belgrade near the main train station where around 1,000 people are seeking shelter. Mainly Pakistanis and Afghans live in a derelict warehouse. The warehouse occupied by men and minors, they’re living in extreme conditions
The state of britain by David Barrett

The state of britain by David Barrett

The state of Britain project was intended to be a study of Americanisation within the UK, however ,The result of the Brexit referendum signaled to me that Britain was about to change more significantly , Britain was about to exchange its liberal European past for a survival of the fittest ”Wild West” culture . 
Pets photography; Wet Dog by Sophie Gamand

Pets photography; Wet Dog by Sophie Gamand

Sophie Gamand is a French photographer living and working in New York. Since 2011, with both a documentary and artistic approaches,
Photo manipulation by Sulaiman Almawash

Photo manipulation by Sulaiman Almawash

Photo manipulation is a mix of photography and graphic design. Combining lot of elements and create an unique image. It requires lot of creative skills, is a great source for inspiration and its always great fun and joy when you work on particular concept.
Northern Siberia; Like Last Year’s Snow by Oded Wagenstein

Northern Siberia; Like Last Year’s Snow by Oded Wagenstein

In the remote village of Yar-Sale in Northern Siberia live a group of elderly women. They were once part of a nomadic community of reindeer herders.
Yolanda Garcia ; The chaos within simplicity

Yolanda Garcia ; The chaos within simplicity

Yolanda Garcia is a photographer who lives in Madrid. She has in a world of dreams, pain, laughter, and likes to externalize. She started in photography from she was a child, fiddling with cameras from their parents.
Aaron Sehmar ; In-between moments

Aaron Sehmar ; In-between moments

Aaron Sehmar - Fine art photography allows me to be able to come up with ideas for images that are a lot more conceptual, where the end result is more of a catalyst for a larger discussion about various topics, such as the purpose of photography, hyperreality, artifice and displacement.
Ordinary days is beautiful  by Takako Fukaya

Ordinary days is beautiful by Takako Fukaya

Takako Fukaya has three daughters. They are so special to her. Also she thinks “Children” like them is a hope and a future in this world.
Olympe Tits : Visual Artist

Olympe Tits : Visual Artist

Olympe Tits is a self-taught photographer. Born in Marseille, 3rd April 1992, she has now settled in Antwerp, Belgium. She combines this with a life as a contemporary dancer, teaching at the Royal Ballet school of Antwerp and choreographing for dance-theatre pieces.
Afromexican healers by Annick Donkers

Afromexican healers by Annick Donkers

At the end of last year my attention was drawn to the coastal region of Guerrero known as Costa Chica, located to the south of Acapulco.
Love for Uganda by Victoria Knobloch

Love for Uganda by Victoria Knobloch

Many times I already traveled to Uganda and have gained a lot of insight. But I travel there not only for photography, but also because of my humanitarian project Deseret Foundatione.
One Shot by Max Hirshfeld

One Shot by Max Hirshfeld

Propelled by a sense of immediacy, these photos of everyday people in everyday places attempt to reveal what we often fail to see.
Francisco Arteaga, Street photographer

Francisco Arteaga, Street photographer

Streets are the places where all kind of souls surrounds us. Strangers become part of you once you’ve clicked, they let you know them, get into them and see what lies behind them. I look for body language, facial characteristics, particular expressions, trying to search the story that defines them.
François Mitterrand by Diego Goldberg

François Mitterrand by Diego Goldberg

I lived in France from 1976 to 1980. While there I had been covering the Socialist Party and when François Mitterrand decided to be a candidate again for the presidential elections I wrote him a letter with a project to document his campaign from the inside, with total access to his private and political activities.

Trending Stories

Emma Sywyj ; Photography

Emma Sywyj ; Photography

Emma Sywyj has been an artist for 14 years, 4 of those years she was based in London whilst studying photography at the Camberwell College of Arts at the UAL.
Lost and found by Atish Saha

Lost and found by Atish Saha

I have never seen dead bodies piled up by the side of the road before. Bodies like rice dropped from a bag.
Interview with Adelīna Darviņa; Published in our print edition #04

Interview with Adelīna Darviņa; Published in our print edition #04

I think it`s a great platform for young artists to rise higher in their career and get recognition from other institutions.
Drift, In-Between by Merethe Wessel-Berg

Drift, In-Between by Merethe Wessel-Berg

The streets carry our stories.People drifting, with no destination. People going to and from - habitual actions, cornerstones of an everyday life. 
Faces – Small worlds by Mofeed Abu Shalwa

Faces – Small worlds by Mofeed Abu Shalwa

A group of faces of some flying insects , part of my second project, Hovercraft flies, dragonflies, bees and wasps I photographed with focus stacking technology. It took me a few months to create and photograph this project until it was completed in the following year, to study the presence and search for these creatures.
Buddhists in India; Bodhgaya by Victoria Knobloch

Buddhists in India; Bodhgaya by Victoria Knobloch

Bodhgaya is the most important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists in India. It is said that the Buddha has obtained Enlightenment there under what became known as the Bodhi Tree.
One leg for Mustafa by Xavier Bertral

One leg for Mustafa by Xavier Bertral

Documentary work about Mustafa Assaloum, a guy from Der. Al- Zoor, in Syria. I meet him in Idomeni. he is a refugee, and I still making photos of him from may 2016.
Exploring Kathmandu: An Untold Story by Abhijit Bose

Exploring Kathmandu: An Untold Story by Abhijit Bose

It was in July, 2007 when my flight took off for Kathmandu on a sunny afternoon from Delhi. It was my first visit to any foreign land and I was nervous. I was equally excited to visit a foreign land and that too Nepal.
Magical macro world by Georgi Georgiev

Magical macro world by Georgi Georgiev

I love street and travel photography but my big passion is macro photography. I am spending all the time i have in nature, capturing the amazing macro world.
Black & White Photography ; Matthew James Smith

Black & White Photography ; Matthew James Smith

I use photography as a way for me to communicate on a deep level.This has taken me years to understand and I am still learning.This communication is hard for me to put in words.
Mass prayer to the Sun by Arup Biswas

Mass prayer to the Sun by Arup Biswas

It is believed that there are 33 Koti (“KOTI” meaning types. Wrongly translated as Crore.) gods and goddess in Hindu Mythology. And each type of god or goddess are worshiped with proper devotions and dedications.
Shifts of perception by Michel van Weegberg

Shifts of perception by Michel van Weegberg

With a love for old analogue cameras and lenses, I roam the internet, on the search for new, mostly old, equipment. Often those treasure finds lead me to new insights or new possible techniques I have to try out.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.