Bathing in milk is nothing new, Cleopatra is said to have taken daily baths in donkey milk, and the Romans were known to have done the same. But there is a rising trend amongst photographers for photographing women and children in luxurious baths of milk. When I mentioned this to my daughters, it being the Eater holidays and us being at alone end and all, they decided they were up for the challenge.
So off I went and dutifully purchased some dried milk powder, and a bunch of pretty pink roses. I ran the bath about 4 inches deep, and then mixed up some of the milk powder in a jug. After about 3 jugs full I had achieved the look I was after, a translucent, milky white bath. I then added the flowers. It looked very pretty. So then I was ready for child number one. She got in the tub happily enough, but then we had a issue with the depth of the bath. She didn’t like the water covering her ears! So we had to let out a little water. I then climbed above the tub and braced my feet on either side (not the easiest of tasks, we have a corner bath and it’s really quite wide!).
She was a little squinty and stiff when we started, but I made her laugh by pretending to almost fall in the bath and she soon relaxed.
Next it was the turn of my youngest daughter. She was a little more challenging. Having a few sensory issues, she was a touch reluctant as soon as she saw the bath. She had a mini meltdown and I had to talk her around and negotiate. In the end it came down to adding more warm water to encourage her into the tub. Then we had another ear meltdown. So it took a little while to persuade her to lie down. Once she was in though she found the whole thing quite amusing. She loved playing with the flowers and swishing her hair.
I may be biased but I think the photos haves turned out beautiful, showing their innocence and beauty stripped back and natural.
The added bonus is that their hair has been left so soft and shiny! Milk is definitely good for a conditioning rinse.
So will I be offering these shoots as a regular thing? I don’t think so. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon with my girls, but I’m not sure I could achieve the same results with children who don’t know me. I’m glad we did it though, I now have more beautiful photos for my gallery wall 🙂