Back to list

bossombuddies5

2,750 5

Petra Finkenzeller

Free Account

bossombuddies5

This is a series of breastfeeding women and their children. I am in the process of getting them ready for "national breastfeeding awareness week". The aim of these pictures is to show that breastfeeding is something natural and beautiful, and not at all something to be ashamed of. Any comments/ suggestions/ critiques would be greatly appreciated, as these photos will be going up in shops at the end of next week (so i still have time to change things ;o))
Thank you, Petra

Comments 5

Dirk Hofmann 09/05/2006 9:46
will come back on you, folks ... :-)
Like comment
Des Finkenzeller 07/05/2006 22:25
@Dirk - just to add that the pictures look very different on backlit LCD screens compared to how they look when printed. I had said to Petra that I thought some of the high-key images were too washed out but when printed they do look fabulous.
LG, Des F
Like comment
Petra Finkenzeller 07/05/2006 21:17
thanks Dennis & Dirk for your comments.
@ DIrk:It’s great that you see it to be something very natural, however many people don’t, and it is specifically those people these pictures are aimed at.
This is why I have chosen to go for as many different women as possible feeding their children of all sorts of ages.
I didn’t “drag the act out of it’s natural surrounding”. The natural breastfeeding surroundings are the mum, the child & the breast. I simply chose not to expand this intimate circle. I want to show intimacy, bonding, love, acceptance…all the things you associate with motherhood, which is why I very specifically only wanted the mother and the child.
Breastfeeding is something very intimate between the mother and the child which I want to get across. I think it is easier to do that if you only have the mother and the child, rather than a picture with additional unnecessary people in it.
By displaying these pictures people see them, which raises their awareness and hopefully their acceptance, without me having to specifically show other people in the pictures.
As for the overexposure…so what would you suggest? It is very easy to criticise, but can you give me an alternative option that you think might work better with the pictures? The reason I chose high key was because it worked very well with the first 2 pictures I worked on (bossombuddies & bossombuddies6). I liked what I had with those 2, and as the whole series should somehow fit together I stuck by the concept and lightened the rest as well. I have tried doing a mix of of cloured pictures and b/w pictures, but I'm not so sure that would work...I am very open to any suggestions.
Thanks,
Petra

Like comment
Dirk Hofmann 07/05/2006 19:43
well ... you're right ... breast feeding is something natural and it should be considered "natural".

therefore it's hard for me to understand why you drag the "action" out of it's natural surrounding and reduce the act to mom, baby and breast.

if i'd to do the series i'd use women to feed their babys in common places, surrounded by people who don't even take notice about the feeding or maybe talk with the mom without referring to the feeding.

also i don't like the overexposure you used in several shots ... i understand it as your choice for the series, but i can't grab why it was ...

anyway - this is my personal opinion and maybe other people see things different.

i cross my fingers that you succeed with the photos ... :-)
Like comment
Dennis Maloney 07/05/2006 2:49
Great idea Petra...Its a very beautiful and natural thing, breast feeding...after all this is their number one function. Now I'm not saying they are not sexy too, but this is what breasts are really for...thanks for sharing these beautiful moments of mother and child...regards, den
Like comment