Anne Geddes photos are iconic
Anne Geddes is one of the world’s most respected photographers whose is internationally acclaimed and award winning. Anne Geddes photos capture the beauty, purity, vulnerability, and preciousness of children, embodying her deeply held belief that each and every child must be protected, nurtured, and loved.
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Anne Geddes photos have been published in 83 countries and her books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide.
Anne was born in Queensland, Australia, on September 13, 1956. She was raised on a 26,000-acre beef cattle farm in North Queensland, Australia, As with any true country kid, Anne and her sisters spent their time horseback riding, mustering cattle, and swimming in flooded creek beds during the wet season.
As Anne Geddes grew up she read such magazines as National Geographic and Life. Anne loved the images of people and liked the idea of a single still image capturing an exact moment in time that could never be repeated.
At 17, To record her day-to-day adventures with a chain of tourist hotels in New Zealand, Anne began taking literally hundreds of photographs, observing and learning to appreciate the different qualities of natural light. Later Anne was hired as a secretary at a local TV station in Brisbane, Australia, moving into a setting where a visual medium was at the forefront. She thrived in the concentrated, creative environment. Anne met Kel Geddes, the station’s programming director during this time. Anne and Kel married in Hong Kong in 1983 when his job took him there.
While in Hong Kong, she built up a fairly extensive portfolio of portraiture, Anne and Kel returned to Sydney, Australia were they welcomed their first girl in 1984. It was at this time that Anne created her first photographic holiday card for her family, which soon led her to launch her small-personalized greeting card business.
When the family moved to Melbourne in 1986, Anne set up her first studio, in an old run-down garage at the rear of their garden. Anne developed her skills by working in the studio environment as an unpaid assistant to a local photographer. She entered her first photographic competition and was placed second. Anne and Kel’s second daughter was born in Melbourne in 1986. Kel’s job then took the family to Auckland, New Zealand.
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In 1988, Anne Geddes photos of Gemma, a little girl standing in a tutu, taken previously in her studio in Melbourne, was her first published photograph.
Anne’s portraiture business in Auckland was thriving, and in 1990, she decided to take one day a month to explore her inspirations and create an image purely for herself. The first and second images from these personal shoots were “Joshua” and “Rhys and Grant,” twins who became known as her “Cabbage Kids”—one of her most recognized photographs around the world.
In 1992, Kel became Anne’s business partner, and the first Anne Geddes card collection was introduced in New Zealand. Anne Geddes photos were placed 1st in two sections at the AGFA Photokina in Germany, among other awards and accolades. It was this level of professional recognition, coupled with a request to help raise money for the prevention of child abuse, and the success of Anne’s greeting cards that led to thoughts of producing a calendar.
From the first photographed friends’ babies in Hong Kong to the publication of the first Anne Geddes calendar, released in New Zealand in 1992 was ten years. Anne and Kel were unable to find a publishing house and distributor for the calendar, so they sold the calendar door-to-door from the boot of their car and in camera stores, fund raising more than US $20,000 to help prevent child abuse and neglect. Their charitable giving formed the cornerstone for what later became the nonprofit Geddes Philanthropic Trust.
Anne and Kel took a risk to publish her second calendar, available in 1993 in New Zealand and Australia. They sold their home in New Zealand and—confident they could risk it all, even with two girls to raise—invested their life savings to self-publish 20,000 copies in Australia; the calendar sold out within three weeks. Using the profits, they printed another 20,000 copies, which also sold out. Soon afterward, they received a call from an interested publisher. Anne’s calendars continue to be exceedingly successful. The charitable side of Anne and Kel’s life extended to include donations from all product sold under the Anne Geddes name.
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About this time , Anne and Kel were reading bedtime stories full of fantasy characters to their young girls, and Anne began to envision a fairy tale told through photography— this was the beginnings of her first large-format gift book, Down in the Garden.
Down in the Garden was published in 1996 and led to Anne’s first appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Oprah’s chat with Anne and her enthusiastic appreciation of Anne’s imagery featured on the show ignited interest in Anne coast-to-coast in the U.S. Down in the Garden took the world by storm and received international acclaim as the world fell in love with Anne and her distinctive imagery.
Anne Geddes artistry continued to develop and as she explored new expressions of her deeply held belief that we must protect, nurture, and love all children. In 1998, she and Kel formally founded the Geddes Philanthropic Trust and inaugurated the first Geddes Fellowship, a program to fund a dedicated primary physician concentrating in the identification, treatment, and research of child abuse and neglect—in this instance at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia.
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The genesis of MIRACLE, Anne’s artistic collaboration with Celine Dion, Anne thought that she might be in a position to bring joy to Stacy, a nine-year-old girl struggling with cancer. She and Kel were very close to Stacy, who was a big fan of Celine. Anne had heard that Celine was a fan of hers, so she asked Celine to contact the girl. Celine phoned Stacy in her hospital room. From Anne’s call to thank Celine grew an understanding of their common values, and the images and music that became Miracle, published simultaneously in 22 countries in 11 languages in 2004.
Stepping from behind the camera, Anne spoke about her life and art in her eagerly anticipated autobiography, A Labor of Love, published in 2007 to international acclaim. She shared details of her growing-up years, her unfolding career, behind-the-scenes stories about creating her images, and her deeply felt dedication to helping to prevent child abuse and neglect. A Labor of Love was preceded by Cherished Thoughts with Love (2005) and followed by Be Gentle with the Young (2008).
Anne Geddes photos have been published in 83 countries spanning North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Her books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 24 languages.
Anne Geddes photos
