Spring Fever

• Prize
• Photographer
  Aline Smithson, United States
• Website
  http://alinesmithson.com

Spring Fever is a series of seven year old girls wearing vintage Spring Hats. The series looks at the old adage that a child's personality is formed by the age of seven. By wearing a hat typical of older women, these portraits allow the viewer a peek into the future.

I came to photography through the back door. My father and uncle were photographers and my career was centered around it, but it wasn?t until I found my uncle?s twin lens Rolleiflex that I embraced photography fully as my own. Seeing the world through my own photographic vision has become a wonderful obsession.

After graduating from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, I moved to New York City to make my living as a painter, and although I continued to paint, my career moved into the fashion world. I worked for many years as the Fashion Editor for Vogue Patterns Magazine in New York City, and then continued on in Los Angeles as a freelance photo stylist. As a fashion editor, I had the privilege of working with many exceptional fashion photographers, including Horst, Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, and Bert Stern.

After standing next to the camera for many years, I have discovered that it is behind the camera that I find my joy and passion. Moments, only fleeting in real life, become more revealing and expansive in a photograph. It is with integrity and humor that I wish to explore life around me--through portraits and places that have marked my memories and imagination.