I recently had the pleasure of photographing the messiest little sisters in town. There was a mud pile. And mud pies. And absolute mud immersion. How did this all go down?

For 2017, I wanted to do something a little different to amp up my photography, and so I joined a year-long photography challenge for the first time.

I chose the Dogwood 52 Week Photography Challenge because I liked the emphasis it placed on artistic exploration. It’s been fun to shake up my artistic vision in new ways. Some weeks, it is certainly a struggle to summon enough inspiration to complete the challenge … not to mention wrangling all kinds of logistical demands just to get it all done in time.

In early May, the challenge was to shoot a portrait that depicted a messy subject.

Presented with this messy challenge, I thought about how kids are really best at being messy. The clock was ticking. I called up a friend with young energetic children. Would she mind if I stopped by to photograph her kids being… well, kids? “Sure! They love to make mud pies. You think that would work?” Of course it would!

One warm summer evening, I headed over to their home in Northwest Omaha. The older sister (a seven year-old mud connoisseur) dragged out the hose and sprayed down a large pile of dirt beside the house, where they are putting in a pond. Then these two giddy little sisters started slinging mud. The water kept on flowing, and a little bit of mud turned into full-on immersion. The girls filled pots with dirt and water, and the mud pie extravaganza began. The younger sister (the muddiest three year-old I’ve ever met) embraced the mess and had the time of her life! Even my camera had some mud splatter to clean up later.

Dogwood Messy Portrait Challenge