The Little Match Girl | Raleigh Children's Photographer

Over Christmas I went to Florida to visit family. While there I met up with wonderful fellow photogs, Brittany Miller, Aileene Guzman, and Michelle Guzman. We had decided to do a shoot together just for fun and we agreed on the idea of using The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen as inspiration. Brittany's cousin was our model and she was SO adorable. Loved her!
We wanted to get some images of her as the poor match girl and other images of her as she might imagine herself to be. Keep in mind not all the details are completely authentic to the story, but I'm sure you'll see the inspiration. I really enjoyed it. The processing in a lot of these is a little different from what you might usually see on my blog (I do use textures, but not usually quite so heavy), but I think it's fun to do different things to keep it interesting and so that I can continue enjoying the creative process.
Please read The Little Match Girl if you haven't already. I'll include a few lines below. It's a beautiful but very sad story.


It was late on a bitterly cold New Year's Eve.





She carried a quantity of matches in her old apron, and held a packet of them in her hand.






Nobody had bought any of her during all the long day, and nobody had given her a copper.



Her little hands were almost stiff with cold. Oh, one little match would do some good! If she only dared, she would pull one out of the packet and strike it on the wall to warm her fingers. She pulled one out. R-r-sh-sh!



The little girl fancied that she was sitting in front of a big stove with polished brass feet and handles. There was a splendid fire blazing in it and she was stretching out her feet to warm them...the flame went out...and she was left sitting with the end of the burnt match in her hand.



She struck a new one...The table was spread with a snowy cloth and pretty china. A roast goose stuffed with apples and prunes was steaming on it...











The match went out, and there was nothing to be seen but the thick black wall.






She hastily struck a whole bundle of matches...the light of the matches made it bright as day.









Grandmother had never before looked so big or so beautiful. She lifted the little girl up in her arms, and they soared in a halo of light and joy, far, far above the earth, where there was no more cold, no hunger and no pain--for they were with God.



In the cold morning light the poor little girl sat there, in the corner between the houses, with rosy cheeks and a smile on her face--dead. Frozen to death on the last night of the old year. New Year's Day broke on the little body still standing with the ends of the burnt-out matches in her hand.






Nobody knew what beautiful visions she had seen, nor in what a halo she had entered with her grandmother upon the glories of the New Year.