Once a staid, posed affair, today’s family portraits borrow from the “snapshot” aesthetic. Family memories are documented ad nauseam. They fill up hard drives and are hardly ever looked at again. It would take too much time to sift through, print and arrange them in a photo album. The arrival of a newborn triggers a photographic frenzy. Photographed from every angle, a six-month baby has probably been photographed more than your grandmother over the course of her entire life.
Lilly and Leon Mackie, two young New Zealand parents, also decided to immortalize their new offspring, the beautiful baby Orson, but in family photos that are decidedly unlike others. Newly settled in Sydney, heaps of moving boxes had piled up in their basement. Instead of throwing them out, they began recreating film scenes with handmade cardboard sets. It’s a beautiful lesson it Do-It-Yourself creativity for uninspired parents with kids running wild on a Wednesday afternoon.
With a chaotic new life and sleepless nights, the Mackies were looking for a way to express the changes in their family dynamic through a portrait. As big Wes Anderson fans, their first cardboard experiment was inspired by the poster for The Life Aquatic. Aboard a submarine made of rugs, cardboard plates and belts, Mom and Dad look tired next to Captain Orson, wearing a Jacques-Cousteau-like cap. This first shot was a hit with the family, who asked what was next. After several weekends stuck at the house with a baby too small for a sitter, the family home was transformed into a movie studio.
“We usually pick films that are well-known in pop culture and have an iconic scene, costume, vehicle, or monster,” says Lily. “Those big fun ‘popcorn flicks’ are usually the best.”
Jaws, Star Wars with princess Leia’s cardboard buns, Jurassic Park with its claws made from steel spaghetti forks, and Apollo 13 are just a few of the blockbusters reinterpreted by the Mackies. You can be sure that these family photos will be cherished for a long time, even by future generations of the Mackie family.
