For the Love of Babies

FAMED BABY PHOTOGRAPHER ANNE GEDDES EXHIBITS HER FIRST U.S. GALLERY SHOW TO BENEFIT NICKLAUS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

The first thing you need to know about babies is that “they are the ultimate divas,” says photographer Anne Geddes. “They basically say, ‘Make me happy or else everyone else will be unhappy.’” You also must know how to work quickly if you are taking their pictures. “At six months old, you’ve got maybe 10 minutes. Babies are so unpredictable.”

They have also been the focus of Geddes’ career for the last 30 years, when she began as a baby portrait photographer in Hong Kong. After a decade of taking their pictures for parents, she began to publish some of her best shots; her debut book, Down in the Garden, became a New York Times bestseller in 1996.

Anne Geddes

Since then Geddes has become world famous for her creative images of babies dressed in everything from bumble bee suits to sunflowers, sitting in cabbage leaves or on beds of roses. Her work has been published in over 84 countries, with more than 19 million books and 13 million calendars sold.

Among her areas of focus, Geddes – a self-described global advocate for children – is the premature baby, which is particularly vulnerable and in need of love and care.

To bring further attention to plight of parents with premature babies, and to help support the medical facilities needed by them, Geddes will be exhibiting black & white images of premature and newborn babies this month at the Moore Building in the Miami Design District. These limited-edition prints will be for sale, with proceeds benefitting Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. Last year, Geddes was inducted by Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation into their International Pediatric Hall of Fame.

“Wherever we’ve lived, we’ve associated ourselves with a hospital, be it in Sydney or Hong Kong,” says the Australian native. Now a U.S. resident (NYC), Geddes has been working with Nicklaus Children’s to support their fetal care program. She visits South Florida and the Gables annually to do high-end private portraiture, as well as photograph parents and their children at the hospital for posting on social media.

While she is famous for many of her color images, Geddes says the black & white photographs are more ‘classic’ in their imagery.

“There is something about looking at black & white that has a sense of timelessness. And it cuts back on unnecessary imagery that can distract your eye. I need to have the viewer moved by the image, to think about their own emotions in a different way. Black & white approaches the mind a little bit more,” says Geddes.