Portfolio review
South African photographer Mzwandile Mpaka loves to capture children’s portraits but is looking to improve his work further
Mzwandile Mpaka submits his portfolio of natural portraits of children for the N-photo team to critique
Children are naturally spontaneous, a child can do something in a moment and never repeat it. This is what happened in my photo of a three-month old’s hand outstretched and grabbed a falling leaf [1]. So when I photograph kids I know I have to be observant and surrender to the children and the environment. What I love most are those candid shots, photographing them being completely natural. That’s what I captured in the portrait of two brothers, Mthobi and Onthatile Liyema [3]. They exude innocence and peacefulness. I find that laying down and getting on their levels helps me connect with them; when you connect with them it gets considerably easier to produce better-quality images.
I always feel like I could redo my shoots when I review them at home; seeing the opportunities that I missed or things I could do to improve inspire me to do better on my next shoot. This is what keeps me going. Children’s photography requires patience, hard work and a lot of continual practice to get the right shot and I’m still trying to get it right. For example, if I had a chance to take the leaf shot again, I would make sure that the baby’s face is in focus. This would have conveyed the facial expressions and emotions of the child, a bit more like the picture of the two brothers. I feel I still have quite a way to go to improve my portraiture beyond what it is currently…
N-photo says
Mzwandile, you’ve done well to capture the fleeting moments that children often give us but are rarely captured. Your images show sincere, relaxed poses and allow us to really transport ourselves into their lives. To see the child’s face as it catches that leaf [1], or gain a little eye contact, even if not directly, would have helped us to connect with the subject through the medium of a two dimensional image. That being said, around 90% of communication is body language, and that’s what you show in your images here. Also, we feel that although you didn’t get the face of the child, it’s still a great shot; details are important when you’re photographing a child as young as three months, so focusing on the hands gives a sense of scale.
The images are well exposed, sharp and have good compositional framework. The shot of the boy walking through the living room [2] feels isolated, something which is exaggerated by his mournful stance, looking down at the ground. The rest of the frame also shows us several pieces of paper and a cup laying in the foreground, with backpacks on either side of the door frame. It feels like the boy has just come home and thrown his stuff down on the floor after a long day at school. Whether or not this was the case, the strength of the image comes from the emotion it evokes. The same can be said of the two brothers’ portrait [3].