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Audrey Woulard - Professional Photographer Magazine

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HILD’S PLAY


<strong>Audrey</strong><br />

<strong>Woulard</strong><br />

photographs<br />

children<br />

au naturel<br />

BY LORNA GENTRY<br />

All images ©<strong>Audrey</strong> <strong>Woulard</strong>


espite being stuck in rush-hour<br />

traffic on an unsually warm<br />

autumn afternoon in Chicago,<br />

<strong>Audrey</strong> <strong>Woulard</strong> is upbeat and talkative. As she<br />

wends her way home to the suburbs from her<br />

downtown studio loft, <strong>Woulard</strong> is energized, even<br />

though she’s been shooting all day. Not<br />

much seems to faze her. Not traffic. Not<br />

babies urinating on her. Not even balancing<br />

motherhood—she has four boys aged five to<br />

15—with a weekly average of 35 photo<br />

sessions in studio and on location.<br />

Success came quickly to <strong>Woulard</strong>, who<br />

had been a professional photographer just a<br />

couple of years when a guide for new moms,<br />

“City Baby Chicago,” anointed her one of the<br />

city’s top children’s photographers in 2004.<br />

Early this year she acquired an agent to<br />

handle her editorial work, which sharply<br />

increased after a catalog assignment for<br />

Pottery Barn Kids.<br />

Her work has also appeared in InStyle<br />

magazine, Better Homes and Gardens magazine,<br />

the Chicago Sun Times newspaper, and<br />

on CBS news. She was chosen to be one of<br />

14 photographers nationwide featured in the<br />

2007 book, “<strong>Professional</strong> Children’s Portrait<br />

Photography: Techniques and Images from<br />

Master <strong>Photographer</strong>s” (Amherst Media).<br />

Three years ago she stopped marketing<br />

altogether. Word of mouth and repeat<br />

customers keep volume high.<br />

All this was unexpected. Born in<br />

Winfiled, Ill., a village about 30 miles west<br />

of Chicago, <strong>Woulard</strong> earned a degree in<br />

computer science at the University of<br />

Illinois. As her children were born, she<br />

faced the uncomfortable choice between<br />

career and full-time mothering. She chose<br />

to stay home but grew restless. Her<br />

husband, Byron, bought a small Fuji digital<br />

camera hoping it would give her a creative<br />

outlet. She photographed her kids—a lot.<br />

“Then I got serious about it,” she recalls,<br />

when she borrowed her father’s Pentax SLR<br />

camera. “I started shooting every single day<br />

and bought a big purse so I could carry the<br />

camera with me everywhere. I didn’t intend for<br />

it to be a career, but when people started seeing


my work and commenting on it, I wondered<br />

if maybe I could get paid for my photos.”<br />

She learned camera techniques and<br />

studio lighting, but <strong>Woulard</strong>’s passion for<br />

photography and her natural talent polished<br />

her work. In early 2003 she approached a<br />

chic Chicago baby boutique with an offer to<br />

photograph the staff’s children for free if<br />

they would allow the portraits to be hung in<br />

the store. “That turned out to be a good<br />

idea,” she says. “It gave me credibility and<br />

really jumpstarted my career.”<br />

Hip, urban Chicago parents liked her<br />

style. She traversed the metropolitan area<br />

photographing babies and children in their<br />

homes. Although she was good with location<br />

lighting, “Lugging around all that gear made<br />

me feel like a traveling salesman,” she says<br />

wearily. “It took a huge lump of creativity<br />

out of me.” Four years ago on a job to<br />

photograph a 3-year-old, <strong>Woulard</strong> left her<br />

lights in the car and started shooting in<br />

natural light only. She loved the results—<br />

and freedom—the all-natural look gave her,<br />

and never used her lights again.<br />

“I use natural sources such as white walls<br />

and sidewalks to bounce light,” she says.<br />

“Sometimes I even wear a white shirt. I’m<br />

not afraid to tell clients that I need to shoot<br />

in the bathroom or kitchen. I tell them to<br />

trust me.”<br />

MAKING A CONNECTION<br />

In part because she uses natural light,<br />

there’s a softness and immediacy to<br />

<strong>Woulard</strong>’s work. But it’s her obvious<br />

connection to children that makes her<br />

portraits disarmingly honest and intimate.<br />

From newborns to teens, her subjects are<br />

relaxed and focused. Because she earns their<br />

trust, <strong>Woulard</strong> is able to linger with her<br />

camera in the small landscape of a child’s<br />

face and wait for unguarded moments.<br />

<strong>Woulard</strong> photographs families and expectant<br />

mothers, but her primary subjects are


‘‘ portraits. Other<br />

I would put kids<br />

in bright colors<br />

and stripes. At the<br />

time that was a<br />

popular look in<br />

editorial but not in<br />

photographers<br />

kicked me around<br />

about that. They’d<br />

say, ‘What are those<br />

kids wearing?’<br />

But I liked it.


‘‘<br />

I never coo-chee-coo at them<br />

or wave toys over my head.<br />

I just keep talking<br />

’’<br />

so they have<br />

no choice but to look at me.<br />

newborns, babies, children, tweens (children<br />

eight to 12 years old) and teens. Tweens can<br />

be self-conscious and shy, but <strong>Woulard</strong> likes<br />

photographing them most of all. “It’s one of<br />

my favorite ages because they are still young,<br />

yet old enough to relate to me,” she says.<br />

“What works well with them, especially the<br />

girls, is to show them their picture on the<br />

LCD screen. They can be stiff and uncertain<br />

about whether they should smile or not. But<br />

when they see their picture they know it’s<br />

OK and then they really get into it.”<br />

To get beyond mugging and shyness in<br />

younger children, <strong>Woulard</strong> shoos away<br />

parents and starts talking. “I never allow<br />

silence because that gives them time to pose.<br />

I don’t immediately pick up the camera. I<br />

talk to them first. And I move. The more they<br />

and I move, the less likely they are to pose. I<br />

talk and laugh with the older kids and encourage<br />

them to talk to me as I’m shooting. With<br />

the younger kids, I just act like a goofball.”<br />

She uses her non-stop talking technique<br />

with babies, too. “I never coo-chee-coo at them<br />

or wave toys over my head. I just keep talking<br />

so they have no choice but to look at me. I<br />

don’t like having parents around because<br />

kids will always look to them for approval—<br />

even babies. I try to keep it just the kids and<br />

me so they concentrate only on me.”<br />

PHOTOGRAPHY ON TOE POINT<br />

<strong>Woulard</strong> decided to get a studio in 2006<br />

when her client base grew large and travel<br />

fatigue set in. Her 2,100-square-foot studio<br />

is awash in natural light, even during the<br />

bleak Midwestern winters. In warmer<br />

months, the ratio of studio to location work<br />

is 50-50. “I still prefer location work<br />

because I like the challenge it presents,” she<br />

admits. “I never know if I’m going to a small<br />

apartment or a mansion because I never<br />

scout locations. It keeps me on my toes.”<br />

Not being able to predict shooting situations<br />

necessitated investing in many camera


odies and lenses. In her camera bag are a<br />

Nikon D2Xs, Nikon D200, Nikon D70,<br />

Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro, two Fujifilm FinePix<br />

S3 Pro cameras and five prime lenses.<br />

<strong>Woulard</strong> uses Photoshop, but only<br />

minimally, due to the volume of work she<br />

has. “I’m even to the point that I can just<br />

crop a picture and be finished. My exposure<br />

is consistent nine out of 10 images. I use<br />

layer adjustments like Soft Light to boost<br />

contrast and I sharpen, but that’s it. The<br />

image is almost all done in the camera. I<br />

watch the white balance, make sure<br />

exposure is OK, and I’m good to go.”<br />

She likes experimenting and owns three<br />

Holga cameras. “I love old film and gritty<br />

negatives,” she confides. But clients want<br />

color, she says, so she doesn’t get many<br />

opportunities to experiment. “I started in<br />

color. I would put kids in bright colors and<br />

stripes. At the time that was a popular look<br />

in editorial but not in portraits. Other<br />

photographers kicked me around about that.<br />

They’d say, ‘What are those kids wearing?’<br />

But I liked it. If I could do Holga sessions I<br />

would, but I’m known for color now.”<br />

As for photographing her original subjects,<br />

her own children, well, <strong>Woulard</strong> is bit chagrinned.<br />

“In terms of photos, they’re neglected,”<br />

she syas. “In fact, I had to hire a photographer<br />

to take our family photos this year! Otherwise,<br />

I knew it would never happen.” ■<br />

To see more of <strong>Audrey</strong> <strong>Woulard</strong>’s work, go to<br />

her Web site, www.alwphotography.com.<br />

Lorna Gentry is a freelance writer in Atlanta.

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