Field notes · Family

Something on the Screen

Two sisters, one phone, and whatever was on it. I never asked.

Two friends laughing together while looking at a smartphone

The brief was a family portrait for a birthday. The picture that made it onto the wall is this one, taken between two of the planned frames, while I was changing rolls.

There are the frames we planned: the grandparents in the middle, the children in front, everyone looking at the lens. They are fine. They are also the frames every family already has.

The frame between frames

I keep the camera up while I reload now. The best expressions arrive when people think the picture is over.

Joyful young woman in a yellow top waving and smiling while holding up her phone outdoors — The younger sister, the same afternoon, on the phone to someone else. Photograph by SanDisk.

The family printed it at a metre wide. The grandmother says it is the only photograph in which both girls look like themselves, and she should know.

The frame between frames

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