Photographer Erica Sinclair shot half of this magazine, occasionally with her children in tow—her daughter Maiea was happy to settle in with a book while Mum documented a remarkable community garden in Tāneatua (see ‘The Garden of Life’, page 78).
The tables turned when Sinclair was photographing a piupiu wānanga held by her husband’s kapa haka team Te Taumata o Apanui (Viewfinder, page 10). There were plenty of children running around, of course. A couple of the younger girls begged for a turn with the camera and hared off to take photos. After a while they came back and asked for a lesson in composing a portrait. Sinclair was more than happy to sit down for a moment and model.
Her tips? Think about the rule of thirds, of course. “Also, when I take portraits, I like to do it just below the person’s eye level. I crouch down a little bit so that I’m looking up at the person.”
This makes the subject stand out from the background, Sinclair says, and appear more powerful. Conveniently, it’s also second nature to a child.