One shining moment
■ Crying baby photos attract national attention in March Sadness bracket.
A Siloam Springs photographer’s way of passing the time during the covid-19 pandemic has garnered national attention.
Luke Davis, owner of Main Street Studios, started a March Madness-style bracket featuring photo outtakes of crying babies on the business’ Facebook page. Main Street Studios specializes in commercial, family, newborn, senior and wedding photography, according to Davis.
The March Sadness — or Baby Sadness — bracket gave Davis’ followers the chance to vote on their favorite crying baby pictures, he said. As the voting progressed the pictures with the highest votes move up, similar to the format of college basketball’s end of the year tournaments, which are affecitonately known as March Madness, he said.
Davis started the bracket on March 22 because March Madness was canceled due to covid-19. He heard the term March Sadness used to describe the cancellation, which gave him the idea to create his own version, Davis said.
Davis said he has been collecting the outtakes of babies crying for at least 10 years.
The media attention started when his mother Bette Davis emailed a local sportscaster in Kansas City, Mo., about the bracket, Davis said. The sportscaster aired it on March 23, Davis said.
A Northwest Arkansas television news station picked up the story a day later and ran a feature on the bracket and Davis. When the piece was posted to the station’s website, it was picked up
by other television stations within the Northwest Arkansas station’s family.
The story ran in several cities including Amarillo, Texas; Birmingham, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Hagerstown, Md.; and Las Vegas, Nev.
“I never thought I’d get national attention,” Davis said.
Davis said each round featured two photos of crying babies matched up. People vote for their favorite by clicking either the “like” or “love” buttons on Facebook, Davis said.
Davis did not have the number of people who voted, but said 79,000 people engaged with the post.
The people who scheduled the sessions where the crying photos were taken had the chance to win prizes if their photos moved to the next round, Davis said.
Davis awarded prizes such as free prints to the final 32, sweet 16, elite eight and final four. The final two were each awarded $50 gift certificates to Main Street Studios and the winner received a $500 gift certificate to the studio.
On April 2, Main Street Studios announced Laikyn Barenberg the winner of the March Sadness bracket. In addition to the prizes from Main Street Studios, she also received a personal message from Tom Bergeron from America’s Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars congratulating her on her victory, Davis said.