David in the Bath...On his 7th Birthday.

Hi Chris.

Great a larger file. It's a really beautiful shot. (And to my excitement I see you used an LX to shoot it. I used one for many years, it's a great little camera, far superior to the F3. Mine got stolen, and my next camera was a medium format...) Anyway back to this image. It's very Sally Mann, (I'm thinking "Dirty Jessie"), If you are not familiar with her work, I think you'd like it. Her book 'immediate family' is wonderful. Thanks for your androgyny comment, i'll add a comment by the image :-)

Hi Anders,

yes it probably is a bit, Sally Mann.

However, when I was working on this project, about ten years ago, my influences were more; Mary Ellen Mark, Lyela Kuznetsova, and the Painter, Andrew Wyeth (christina's world).

I do remember that my 'picture story' looked like it had been shot by half a dozen different Photographers...such is the way when you get a bit obsessed.

This was taken several years ago, with Tri-x and a Pentax LX.

Exposure would of been about 1/8 @ f4, 40mm lens.

The neg is particularly difficult to print, quite thin.

Please offer your comments...

kind of a sad commentary that we have to tag a picture of a seven year old as 'nude'.

it's a beautiful picture. it just glows. i can see the Sally Mann influence. there's an article written by her daughter Jesse in the current issue of Apature that's a must read.

Thanks David, I like this picture too.

At the time I didn't feel all that comfortable taking it, I mean photographing nude kids at 18 felt odd.

I was studying and spending my time photographing families in Wales, anyway I was in the living room..and David called out something, probably had soap in his eyes or something...I was always around at the house for meals and such (poor student) so wandering into the bathroom was normal...and I just saw the picture.

Maybe someone can remember the name of an American Photographer, I think his first name was Emmet or similar, took pictures of his daughter holding a pear between twisted arms, or something, anyway thats what influenced this picture.

I found Sally Mann a bit wish washy at the time (little did I know).

Such a beautiful position and a wonderful contrast too... As a title, I would think of

" Cocoon "...