I have taken hundreds, maybe even thousands, of pictures of my daughters, Laura and Elena, in the elusive pursuit to capture a fragment of their true selves, not just the façade the camera typically sees.

This image, “Laura at 6”, is a result of this exploration. For me, it goes beyond being a photo of a specific child—my daughter—and becomes a symbol of childhood at large: not only the beauty and innocence many people see, but also a child’s constant testing of limits in an attempt to grow and her defiance of adult authority in an attempt to define her own personality.

Laura’s face is at perfect rest so the focus falls entirely on her eyes which, curiously knowing and unafraid, seem to ask us what the next step for her will be in life, thereby foreshadowing the shedding of that childhood innocence and the entry into a world that is infinitely more complex than the ginger-and-spice bubble a six-year old girl inhabits.

This print is a Ziatype, a process closely related to traditional platinum/palladium printing but using different chemicals that allow the image to print out (fully form) during exposure. Once exposure is complete, no additional development is necessary.