Stop What You're Doing and Swoon Over These Dreamy Pics of Kids and Pets

Photo by: Elena Shumilova/Caters News
Followed
May, 2013

Russian photographer Elena Shumilova's shots of her two sons, Yaroslav and Vanya, with animals on their farm evoke a fairytale world where little boys become King of the Beasts. The images are sweet, of course, but she doesn't dwell on the subjects' cuteness, instead she quietly captures the secret bonds that even very young children can have with their pets as well as the natural and open way they interact with the world around them. Each image tells a dreamlike story set apart from the mundane concerns of grownups. Although she studied art in Moscow, Shumilova only began took up photography 2012. In an interview with the photo blog Bored Panda, she described how she prefers to use natural light which she feels gives "emotional depth to the image." She added that she takes an intuitive approach to her work, "I get inspired mainly by desire to express something I feel, though I usually cannot tell exactly what it is." -Sarah B. Weir