Tytia Habing: This is Boy

Tytia Habing: This is Boy by Aline SmithsonOctober 1, 2014

When Photographer Tytia Habing was considering motherhood, she pictured having a daughter. When she had a son, she wasn’t quite prepared for the journey of The Boy–the energy, the mess, the joy and magic that comes from seeing the world through the unique lens of the opposite sex. Her series, This is Boy, captures moments of her son’s childhood that allow a deeper understanding of his sense of self, but also the connection her son has to the natural world.

Growing up on a farm at the edge of a woods gave me a great appreciation for the world around me. I roamed wherever I pleased, built forts among the trees, picked wildflowers in the pasture and caught craw-daddies in the crick. I have a great love for the outdoors and beautiful mother nature, and can usually be found outside enjoying it. My son is taking over the jobs of fort building and craw-daddy hunting, but I’ll never give up the picking of wildflowers.

I received two separate university degrees, neither of which are photography related. Such is life. You never know where it will take you. It’s where I picked up a camera for the first time with the intention of making something artful, so it wasn’t all for naught. The majority of my adult life I spent living in the Cayman Islands until three short years ago I moved home to Illinois with my husband and son.

This is Boy

When I first became pregnant, I secretly hoped for a girl. I got a boy. That was over six years ago now. My life has since been filled with dirt, broken toys, shoes full of sand, sticks, scraped knees, cut up cardboard boxes, mud, toy guns, dinky cars and a never ending sense of amazement at this foreign creature I brought into the world. This is boy.