Jane's first... well, not word, because it isn't a word, but first wordlike entity, deployed clearly with reference to a specific and appropriate thing, would appear to be "nom".
"Nom nom nom!" she says of her food, or possibly "num num num," but obviously "nom nom nom" is more entertaining, so that's what we'll call it. We didn't really recognize how standardized and lexicalized away from generalized noises of food appreciation this performance of hers had become, until people we were sitting near at lunch today laughed and exclaimed over it. NOM NOM NOM!
And you'll be happy to know that we did eventually let her wear a party hat. Another way to look at this is that she allowed us to put a hat on her. Either way, there was a baby in a hat. Also there was a cupcake.
Option one: normal birthday snapshots.
Normalish, anyway.
Option two: Super art-directed film still Barry Sonnenfeld style.
Friends have pointed out that part of what makes the latter one look so perfectly full of artifice (and I confess that I love it as a photograph probably more than I should) is the perfect echo between the angle of the hat and the angle of the cupcake. What do you suppose is the plot of the movie in which this shot would appear, though? I can't decide.
Leprechaun.
Posted by: adriana | 03/04/2011 at 08:25 PM
I don't feel like that's what makes it feel cinematic. Maybe it's that it looks like the kind of shot movies used to use to flaunt their deep focus, back when deep focus wasn't available to all.
Posted by: Minivet | 03/04/2011 at 09:30 PM
There is something very formal about the distant relationship of Jane and the cupcake. "Figure in Festive Hat and Nom"?
Posted by: Yer Mum | 03/04/2011 at 10:02 PM
The bright yellows add a pleasing touch of Tim Burton.
I like the way Jane looks straight-backed and yes, formal. But festive. And strikingly pretty, as usual.
Posted by: Nellig | 03/05/2011 at 04:29 AM
Yes!- That's it, Nellig- it's the mustard yellow that makes it truly great. (Well, and the beautiful face, but that's in all the photos.)I think I need a good sized proper print for my wall (as opposed to the bulletin board and fridge where the rest are displayed in profusion). I'm going to see about doing that.
Posted by: Yer Mum | 03/05/2011 at 08:16 AM
And the dual frivolity of hat and cupcake.
I think I should stop now.
Posted by: Yer Mum | 03/05/2011 at 09:57 AM
I think the last shot looks like a scene from a film by Luis Buñuel.
Posted by: uncle r | 03/05/2011 at 10:29 AM
I feel like Philip Seymour Hoffman is about to enter, stage right.
Posted by: Elsa | 03/05/2011 at 02:33 PM
There's an Alice in Wonderland-y feel to it. In the film, Jane would definitely be the benevolent, though admitedly eccentric, dictator of said Wonderland.
It's a truly great photo - you have every right to be ridiculously pleased with it. Nom!!
Posted by: Lumpy Badger | 03/05/2011 at 03:31 PM
Both Jane and the cupcake look like they're looking up at something or someone unexpected that will prove to be quite exciting exactly three seconds after this still. Whatever the movie is, I believe the cupcake must be sentient.
Maybe that's what took my son so long to taste his, and his hesitancy to do more than poke it with one finger even after tasting the joy of lemon-flavored Swiss meringue. I feel like a cupcake killer now.
Posted by: Jessica | 03/09/2011 at 01:11 PM