The Williams Sisters

My photographer husband and I got to collaborate with our young friends Maddie and Maja Williams on their very own fashion shoot. Maddie came up with the idea of staging an animal tea party. The two sisters got to dress up in fancy clothes and brought along their tea set. Their dad Josh styled the photos, Kah Leong shot, and I drew the illustrations in post production. Here is my favorite image so far....




I love this family! I think the best part of old friends is that you get to watch them grow. I think I have known the Williams family since I moved to New York city ten years ago. About eight years ago Josh (the girl's dad) and I were working on composing the soundtrack for my short film Runaway Bathtub, and we had the movie playing on the TV. We couldn't concentrate because little Maddie (below) wanted to dance around in front of the television and sing, competing for our attention. She was so charming and hilarious that we gave in to her wiles and decided to use her voice for the soundtrack for the movie! That key decision turned out to be the most popular element of the film!




Now Maddie has grown long, lean, and quiet, with her nose buried in books. Her little sister Maja (below) has stepped into Maddie's old goofball shoes and entertains us with dramatic interpretations of 'Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus'. It's so funny to see the girls go through the predictable yet delightful and somehow surprising stages of youth. I guess one of the things that makes us love children so much is that they never quite seem to know it all yet, but seem to be learning so much every day-it's fun to witness a little girl soaking it all in.


In kindergarden I was invited to be in a commercial for the Salvation Army. To arrive on time for the shooting, I needed to leave school a couple of hours early. I kept running up to my teacher about every 5 minutes asking 'is it time for me to go yet?' Finally my teacher was exasperated and tried to show me how to read the big round clock over the door, saying 'When the hand points to the number 1, then come up to me". I went back to my low wooden table. The only problem was, I couldn't tell which hand to watch, so I kept getting the second hand confused with the minute hand and proceeded to drive myself and my teacher crazy by a series of ill-timed guesses! I kept going up and she kept sending me back! I wasn't too young to feel embarrassed but there was NO WAY I was going to miss my chance at MOVIE STARDOM!

I hope this little fashion shoot will made Maddie and Maja feel like the little stars they are to me! xoxo Maja and Maddie!