I had an image in my mind’s eye of Julia Margaret Cameron‘s 1872 portrait of Alice Liddell.

Alice 1876, Julia Margaret Cameron

Alice 1858, Charles Dodgson

This led me to be reminded of an earlier Alice portrait by Charles Dodgson. You may know him by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. He wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the amusement of Alice Liddell . With these images in mind and a brief scouting outing, my assistant and I went to meet London and her mom.

When I was introduced to London, she wouldn’t come out of the closet.

I heard quiet crying and caught a glimpse of red eyes. I sat on her bed covered in stuffed animals. Surveying the collection, I asked her mom which was her favorite. I commented,  “I like this one. May I keep it?” The four year old slowly peeked around the corner and looked chagrined. “Well perhaps I could just borrow it?” I said. She leaned further around the corner and slowly eased her way out.

From there it was a slow but sure movement from her bedroom to the botanical gardens. She was curious and my questions piqued her interest.

I was engaging suggesting one  ”play” site after another. My poor assistant followed,  running after us with changes of clothes, cameras and the ever present light reflector. At times, London, forgot she was being photographed. These were the beautifully candid shots.

London1

At other times, she was clowning for the camera, winking, smiling, making a face.

Occasionally she would out fox me by understanding my strategy

and at the last possible moment push her hands toward her face to prevent the image from being successfully taken. In the end, we played and ran around for 20-30 minutes. She was exhausted; I was exhausted! The results were worth it.

I’m not sure if I made a friend that afternoon, but for about 30 minutes we played and played and played.

Reviewing the day, I believe it was a little like chasing the white rabbit down the rabbit hole.

London 3