Decisions, decisions...

I have this thing I do where I'll take several prints from a session and lay them out on my desk for a few days. I always find it interesting how my opinions about the photographs will change. I think that it's one of the wonderful things about photography... the way a picture can change over time. I always try to use prints that are different in style.

Currently, I have four prints sitting out from last weekend. We went to the beach to scout a good location for a family portrait I'm shooting on Sunday and while we were there I snapped a few shots of The Most Photographed Children on the Planet©. At the beginning of the week, one picture stood out as my favorite but as the week went on I noticed that whenever I glanced at my desk my eyes were always drawn to a different one.

Now, I'm the father so I'm not totally objective... I can't pretend that I'm judging the pictures solely on artistic merit. If there's one thing I learned quickly when it came to children's photography it's that there's no predicting what a parent will like. One of my first sessions with a 5-year-old I had brought along some simple toys to use as props. I ended up with a precious shot of the little girl hugging an antique teddy bear. When I showed the picture to the parents at the viewing, the father said, "I don't like it."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because it's not her bear, " he explained, "She has no attachment to it."
You just never know...

Anyway, here are the four pictures. Which one do you think is the best and why? I'll reveal my picks later...

Booray Perry is a children's photographer in Tampa Bay who takes far too many pictures of his own children...