The idea of a school or family portrait evokes a particular image in your mind.
Perhaps that of an awkward child posed against a fake fence in front of a fake forest backdrop. Or a shot from the waist up as they jauntily cross their arms and smile at the camera. Or a family grouped together in a meadow during golden hour.
Colorado Springs photographer Carolyn McLaughlin appreciates the concept but wants to move beyond the cult of standard portraiture. Her composite, customized photos are works of art, where children in sailboats ride giant whales, hold clusters of helium balloons while standing on cotton candy clouds, fish off crescent moons, wear gowns made of butterflies, and become friends with baby elephants and giraffes.
“It really is important to capture that childhood wonder because it does go by so quickly,” said McLaughlin, owner of Storybook Images. Find her online at mystorybookimages.com.
“I wanted to do it in a way that is totally different. I wanted to figure out something whimsical, imaginative, fun, where it evokes emotion in the parent when they see it on the wall and evokes emotion out of the child, like wow, that’s me, and it gives them a boost of confidence. I just want love and joy to be on the walls of people’s homes.”
McLaughlin’s photo studio in the basement of her home is the status quo. Backdrops, a tripod, camera, lighting. Nothing out of the ordinary.
