"Among the Lilliputians" by Eric Rennie

I once had a photography teacher who all but forbade her students from taking pictures of children.  Another teacher curated a juried competition in New York called Kids (Not Cute), presumably to spare himself an avalanche of kids' photographs that were just too cute for words.   I can understand where my teachers were coming from, since it is a challenge to photograph children, particularly very young ones, without wallowing in their cuteness.  And yet I couldn't help wondering what would have become of Sally Mann if she had been told early in her career that she could not photograph  children.  There is little danger that a photographer of Mann's stature would produce work that was the least bit sentimental.  Nevertheless, I do not doubt that it was a danger she was mindful of, especially since she was often taking pictures of her own kids.

I am primarily a landscape photographer, but I am also a grandfather, and my refrigerator is plastered with shots of my granddaughter at every age.  I did not take them with an eye toward producing works of art.  Still, every once in a while I come up with something that might have some artistic merit if she just weren't so darned cute!  Fortunately, the A. Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas (near Austin) was willing to overlook this shortcoming.  The photograph above is one of four of my images appearing in a juried competition called "Treasure" that opens January 9, 2015.