My Boys.

When we planned Donna's session we knew one image was destined for wall. When she saw this image she had the builder working on her new home redesign the wall to feature the 50-inch long portrait!

 

I had photographed Donna, a single mom, for herself a few years earlier. So when she was designing her new home she came back to us for a very precious portrait. Her world was her tight knit family two sets of twin boys, Stirling & Jonathon and Graham & Evan. And I must say, she raised them right; they are the most polite engaging young men I have met.

 

The session was fun, we did a lot of amusing and stylish things, they were open to anything. The last set we created was this one. Thinking of the twins, mirror images, I hauled out my 8 foot by 4 foot mirror, propping it up some boxes, so we could get their reflections.

 

Donna had the idea of her hand positioning, the old – Ta Da – Presenting! ! !  We lined the boys along the mirror edge, setup the lights and joked our way to some great expressions.

 

Something to notice in the image that fascinated me we got the images back. We had told the boys to bring their own black shirts, each showed up with t-shirt necklines and shorter sleeves. The real interesting thing is their hands, this is how they placed them. They have them together but the older twins, Stirling & Jonathon, have the fingers tips touching, but the hands are more open and relaxed, while the younger twins, Graham & Evan, have theirs still touching but closed.

 

Then there are the matching smiles; each twin set has the same sized of engaging smile. Even their haircuts are almost interchangeable.

 

This image is also a pride of joy of mine. Wherever we have entered it, it has won. Which thrilled me.

 

When Donna went to the Calgary Stampede International Print show where it was selected from over 1185 entered to hang with 300 accepted for display, she was touched. People would come up to the print and touch it, some would stop and just gaze at for unusual lengths of time. It seemed to truly embrace the viewer, communicating it self.

 

Some of the Awards

Alberta Professional Photographers Assoc. Annual Print Contest – Best in Group

Kodak Gallery Award

Professional Photographers of America International Print Contest - Merited

Calgary Stampede International Photo Salon – Accepted for Display