Week Two of our year-long project at The Photographer Within’s Project 52 ~ A Year in Song has been filled with a lot of beautiful smiles. Our lyrical prompt was “And when you smile the whole world stops and stares for awhile” from Bruno Mars’ Just The Way You Are. I knew immediately that I wanted to shoot an image of Anna for this week’s photo… her smile is contagious, fleeting, and complex. Because of her autism, sometimes her smile isn’t at the appropriate time or place… sometimes she smiles when she’s scared, sad, or nervous. When she was little, she used to be scared of people’s smiles. You see this in primates as well… baring your teeth is a sign of aggression and fear. She’s learned to smile for me, for my camera, and of course she smiles when she’s genuinely happy or moved to laughter. Regardless, Anna’s smile makes me stop and give a moment of thanks. All I want is for her to be happy.
Week Two ~ Your Smile
Thanks for looking! You can join along at any time via Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, and/or the forum. I’ll post Week Three’s theme on Wednesday.
