!! Bizarre colour balance, in a very spooky and intimidating way. Quite a special image!

Geeeez :) As impish as a hell knows. I like the composition, creased shirt and her peculiar smile.

You may have missed my comment on yesterdays pic - I was late.

This is wonderful and from the lorreta Lux mould ,but better because no fake backgrounds.

I personally want more of this stuff from you seeing as you are capable of doing it. Obviously personal taste is coming through on my comment but I just prefer it when you shoot subjects like this.

Bye

Oh by the way Dave, Put a Wacom pen on your wish list ??????????????

at first it was a little like from a horror movie, esp because of the eyes. but the more i look at it, the more it stops being vile ;) (and sorry 4 my poor english)

This is a good portrait, but the eyes! The colour balance has made them look scary. I think a good picture should stir something in you, make you think, make you look twice. It doesn't always have to be 'nice'. I like it.

it's very strange...the smile on her face almost makes her look older.

WOw!
Elle m'a vraiment foutu les jetons cette photo!
On dira qu'elle est tout droit sortie du "village des damnés".
J'en ai encore des frissons dans le dos.brrrrrrrr

I think this holds a wonderful, potent power. Somewhat impish, yes. If I had pictures of my childhood that looked like this, I would really appreciate my parents for experimenting in such ways.

The shot looks good if the viewer will add deep, grunt-like sound effects.

First time i saw this picture i though about this strange dolls... you know this one dead, in water or in strange place, like in horror films. And they are often partly broken etc.

They have perfect face and they are smiling... but they are going to kill you ! (with smile)

And when i watch all around to find something less scary there are nothing instead of a strange "bike" ? Like a "stick of death" !

Very good picture... but i'm not sure you wanted all of this ;o).

Vile?? Well perhaps if you're used to your beloved child looking as angelic as they all usually do, it might upset your wife to see this... I have to admit it IS pretty chilling at first look!

But I love it all the same. The darkness out if which she glows at me, the colours, the overcast sky, the depth of field...

It's pretty late now and I have to admit she's scaring me!

You have a beautiful daughter, but this one is downright scary...its the eyes man!

Eerily beautiful. I love the tone but I feel her face is a little blotchy and the eyes a bit too light.

Disturbing but very magnificent. I like her eyes.

Pretty child - she looks absolutely lovely in other pics, but I have to agree with the rest of your family on this one: the photo is creepy. It reminds me of one of the old covers of The Shining, a 70s one with the profile of a boy with glowing eyes. I remember because I was terrified of it whenever I walked past it on my mom's bookshelf!

She looks like a little demon! But nice color balance.

Really disorienting picture. I'm afraid I'll have to sympathize with your wife on this one,.

I like the nice, sweet, not scary pictures of your kids better than this one! --- I love the colours of this shot though, but her eyes look too creepy for such a cute baby!

Please make it up for us by posting something where she looks as live and lovable as I'm sure she is in real life :)

I must say, all of your children I've seen posted on your site are just beautiful, but this color distortion actually startled me when it opened up! !!! Creepy...like the Chucky doll

More than creepy, is unusual, but our minds full of "cliches" from hollywood don't let us see beyond those cliches. Nothing to do, we are totally molded by the Hollywood point of view. But, finally, is a great and spectacular picture. Excuse my poor english, i'm from Venezuela.

Really strong image which I would classify in the horror or gothic genre. This one scares me.

I like the direction your portraits have been taking. This is a very dramatic image--and drama, in my books, is good.

Fantastic image. Great composition, great depth-of-field. And those eyes! Yeah, it's definitely creepy; but I love a good creepy picture. I would really like to see more photos using these washed-out colors in the future. It gives the image a great retro look. Reminds me of the CD liners I've seen in several hardcore albums (the eeriness of the colors appeal to gothic listeners)... Do you have access to any fashion mannequins? If you had an interesting backdrop, interesting clothes, creepy lighting (shadows?), and colors like these, you'd have an image on your hands that would give me nightmares for months.

Then again, I get the impression you don't particularly enjoy taking spooky pictures any more than non-spooky ones, so that may or may not be a particularly appealing idea to you. Still, if you ever try that, remember that I gave you the idea! ;-)

The first thing I said when I saw this photo was - - Loretta Lux. As John said, this is very reminiscent of her work, which is unsettling. I like the strange colors and the eyes. Really spooky.

whoa man, you're scaring me away from your site ;)

I totaly agree. It is a little bit scary. I wanted to comment on yesterday's post but Had not the time. Your baby looks a lot like your wife and while yesterday's was so beauty and sweet this is totaly different.

yikes!

i saw this and immediately thought, "CHUCKY!!!"

it's too scary. show this to her when she's a teenager and acting up.

It _is_ scary!

its a she-chucky! amazing how you've pulled it off.. simply amazing!

Chuckies sister. I find this unnerving and not at all enjoyable to view. Everything about her seems to be distended almost to the extent of caricature. I think the eyes do it. Vacant.

Upon saying this I suppose you could say that it's a strong image, but not all strong images are good, are they.

Wow, very striking. Those eyes are a little scary though, a bit too spooky for my liking.

Brrr....she looks like she's going to hit me over the head with a champagne bottle. But then I notice that it's actually a bike!

An interesting photo though. I think the spookiness is highlighted by the dark overcast sky and the black background, as well as hollywood sterotypes, as mentioned earlier.

It does have the spooky vibe, but not quite as strongly as http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/0504262010_clean.php, which is probably one of most interesting here.

The color is a bit confusing/odd at first, but I can't really tell if that's a good or a bad thing.

But the portraits are looking quite good overall.

I'll go with your wife on this one, my comment was to have been simply terrifying. If I was your youngest when I became 18 I'd sue your ass for putting this on the internet.

Wow. I can almost hear her say "REDRUUUUUM"....
I'm really scared.

I have to agree with some of the others. It is very Chucky-like. Which definately doesn't make it a bad image. If you were going for a cute picture, then you failed. Yet it looks as though you were going for a more scary effect. Are we right on this or was this a mistake . . . or happy accident?

I have say I was moved to comment on this one. There IS something scary about it. I don't know about vile, per se, but definitely disturbing. I don't know, but that thing she's holding almost looks like a telescope (I think it's a bike though, right?) and I feel like she's an alien...

sister of chucky!
scary stuff...

I instantly though, "Bride of Chucky", as her face and general expression and look reminds me of Chucky from the horror movie. The feeling of empending darkness only adds to the theme.

I agree with Jason Wall

i think this is so scary. its just on her eyes, they look so empy and like you did something to them... did you edit them? actually there should be some reflection in a child's eyes, but here are none.
this picture could occur in a nightmare i think, when you play with kids and suddenly the scene freezes and the child looks at you like that.
this is not supposed to be offending, i think your daughter is cute.
if i was your wife, i would be upset, too ;).
nice greetings from germany, well done, viviaaa

Scary and unattractive, for sure. I guess if you're aiming for "agh!" you've hit it, and I suppose that's a valid approach to art, but I don't like it so much.

I love a lot of your pictures, though.

She's ready to fight crime! I don't think it's " vile", but confident. You can't win her in a looking-contest. I think it's a good portrait because it shows a look uncommon in children.

Au fait : peut-on poster des commentaires en français (j'ai lu quelque part que vous étiez français)

A Midwich Cuckoo springs to my mind - have you experienced a "Dayout"?

I like the composition; the expression, the eyes, the bleached out areas - did you engineer this or arrive there by accident?

Photography is meant to draw attention, capture the viewers imagination, stir some emotion and generate a reaction!

Full marks on all counts.

Agree with you man, very interesting picture

'gards

Thanks, and I agree, it is a bit freaky ;-)

Cool and creepy! I bet this will be her favourite childhood photo. I'm really enjoying your "offbeat" portraits.

I think it's damn arresting, Dave. The only thing that'd make it better would be some shine and catchlights in the eyes. To me they're a little too lifeless (which may be why your wife finds it so unappealing).

Flipping through the prev/next shots around this image, this one sure as hell stands out..

I'm sure that when the girl gets older she'll look at this and say "wow dad that's some nice toning and depth of field.. i love how you made me look like one of those psychotic doll-looking-things as portrayed in horror movies at the very end of the 20th century"... surely she won't say "dad why do you mess with pictures of me and post them to publically humiliate me?"

Anyway.. if I were your wife, I'd slap you upside the head for posting a photo of a daughter making her look like this..

That's just me though.

^^^ I was gonna say the exact same thing. Dave, shes gonna grow up and give you a hard time for making her lovely face look like Bride of Chucky! hahah.

Have to agree that it *does* stand out tho... While I probably wouldnt have posted this shot - kudos to you for being brave enough to post it.

I don't know if i dare to this to my daughter in the future...it's too scary! then again, i doubt my daughter will have such special eyes. =)

Anyway, i love the lighting

wow! that is really scary! a total freaky photo. im sorry to say that about your child, but this photo is shocking to say the least. very powerful shot. im impressed with this image of yours.

scary and amazing... tell us a bit about the processing the image... it does not look like it was a very light day, but her puils are tiny?

This is astoundingly and hauntingly beautiful.

filip: it was quite bright, but overcast and I used the Channel Mixer to desaturate the image.

the first thing I thought when seeing this picture was : scary eyes!
it is indeed not a cute picture, but it is very interesting anyway - would be good for a horror movie (sorry, not that I want to insult your child ;-) )

Like Loretta Lux!

Wow, the girl is cute, but this is really scary. It's very interesting artistically, but I wouldn't put that photo in my wallet.

it's too bad that you didn't make her eyes a bit more yellow or red

Unsettling. Reminds me of a "Chuckie" horror movie. She probably will not like this when she is older! Regardless, unbelievable talent that you possess.

I was just about to call this baby Chuckie.. if you want frightening pics of scary people, email me.

The weather impression of the picture is not impish, but ominous. The weather sets the mood. " Scary in a good way" is right. Wonderful shot

Yes, very disturbing, but it did make me laugh. Great stuff !

Very good photo(shopping?). Because of it's scary atmosphere it's almost not a portrait photo. Well, at least as we know it.

What's with the kids man? where do you find all of them? i think it's a bit sick. anywho... this "pic" is scary and i am going to have a nightmare now. Love, Dave Matthews

Have you seen Dawn Of The Dead (The Remake) - The backwards rollerskating girl at the start... anyone, anyone, bueller?

Um...at first glance, it's a little creepy. Mainly because shes such a cute child, but I myself have peircing Greenish/Yellow eyes, and I've learned that what I have is a gift. Shes going to be a heart breaker in life, and she will always get what she wants. LoL. True Story.