I recently submitted a project to Lenswork magazine’s Seeing in Sixes book project. It was not selected for publication. So I decided to share the photos with you today rather than just having the project sitting on my hard drive. The idea behind the Seeing in Sixes book is for photographers to create a series of six photographs that make up a project.
The Secret Life of Andrew the Panda
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” ~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Meet Andrew, a typical stuffed panda from the 1980s. By the mid-2010s, Andrew was living a quiet life on a shelf in the Washington DC suburbs. And then, one of his people took up wet plate photography and needed an exposure test model. And suddenly Andrew had found his calling in life. He’s black, he’s white, and he’s happy sitting still for as long as takes to get the image.
Shortly thereafter, Andrew’s people started working with models. His role as the exposure test model was more important than ever. Now he was helping make sure the models looked their best under the lights.
As Andrew started working with the various models, he became good friends with several of them. Recently, he has allowed his people to catch a few behind the scenes photos of his life as a panda about town with these wonderful women.
Always a Gentleman with BlueRiverDream © 2017 Patty Hankins
Anticipation with Rebecca Lawrence © 2017 Patty Hankins
Christmas Dreams with Rebecca Lawrence © 2017 Patty Hankins
Hi There with Marzipanned © 2017 Patty Hankins
Snuggles with Keira Grant © 2017 Patty Hankins
Who Knew with BlueRiverDream © 2017 Patty Hankins
As Bill and I do more sessions with models I’m planning on adding more photos to the Secret Life of Andrew the Panda series. The best place to see them as I create them is in my Instagram feed at https://www.instagram.com/hankinspatty/