After years of photographing news events around the globe, Buckhead’s Jean Shifrin has turned her camera lens on some of the most difficult subjects of her 35-year career — babies.
It’s a job that requires an inordinate amount of patience and an exquisite sense of timing, talents the 55-year-old honed during her years as a documentary photographer with the Kansas City Star and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Recently the University of Missouri graduate was inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame for her body of work. But in 2005, she gave up photojournalism to branch out on her own, focusing exclusively on children.
“I thought about all the work I’d done at newspapers, and I realized that no matter how stressful things were, if I had an assignment that involved children, it was immediately better,” said Shifrin. “It didn’t matter if it was a kindergarten class or a child at home. The older I get, the more I enjoy children, and I choose to photograph subjects I enjoy.”
While she’s often on the floor of her Midtown studio cajoling a chuckle out of an infant, Shifrin also brings her documentary skills to projects that record an entire day in a child’s life. She also works with parents to track a child through the first year.
“The whole idea is centered on ‘a day in the life’ - documenting a day in the life of your toddler, middle schooler or high schooler,” said Shifrin. “That’s something they can look back on. If I had something like that and my house was on fire, it would be the first thing I’d grab. It’s also fun to see the way a child changes through a year. New parents, in particular, are so caught up in caring for a new baby that they don’t realize how quickly the time goes.”
Shifrin’s passion for photographing children comes from a personal connection as well. Growing up in Missouri as the fifth of six children, she was not photographed and has no images of herself as a child.
“I have a few photos of my mom and dad as children, and they are priceless to me,” she said. “But I have no pictures of myself as a newborn or infant - just a few as a toddler. None of them are candid or with my mom and dad. I also don’t know what my room or our house looked like, and I’m not happy about that. Photographs can bring all that back to life, so I encourage people to think about the legacy they’re leaving.”
In the era of cell phone photography, Shifrin still finds a niche for her professional talent.
“Today, everybody has a camera in their pockets, and they say, ‘I can do this,’ and they should,” she said. “But taking a photo on your cell means you’re not going to be in the picture. I’d love to have a shot of my mom or dad holding me. There’s a big difference between a cell phone shot and what a professional can do.”
Some of those things include working for hours to get just the right shot. That may mean pulling out props from blankets to baskets or spending time at a child’s house to take shots in their everyday environment.
“I am extremely patient, maybe because I don’t have kids of my own,” said Shifrin with a laugh. “I can photograph a newborn all day long, and when I finish, they go home with mom and dad! But the bottom line is about leaving a visual legacy. When parents, children and their children can look back on those pictures, it’s a priceless gift.”
Information about Shifrin’s work is online at www.shifrinphotography.com.
Every other Wednesday, H.M. Cauley brings you positive stories from our community. To suggest a story idea, e-mail hm_cauley@yahoo.com.
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