While most children sleep under a blanket in a bed, 3-year-old Wengenn often spends his nap time riding camels in Egypt and dining with bears, thanks to his mom's creativity.
Inspired by Adele Enersen’s photographs of her sleeping baby, Sioin Queenie Liao began taking whimsical photographs of her third son shortly after he was born. And the fun hasn’t stopped, even though he's a toddler now.
Liao's passion for children's stories serves as the main inspiration behind each image. Once she decides on a theme, she gathers materials around her California home, dresses up her son before nap time, then situates him perfectly and snaps photos from above. While the idea of moving a sleeping baby is terrifying for some parents, Liao says she lucked out with her son's sleeping habits.
“Once he fell asleep, I would move him around," she said. "I know not all kids are like this.”
Each shot takes up to half a day to produce, and Liao tries to take the photos quickly enough that she can catch a nap before her son wakes up.
“It’s a bit exhausting,” Liao said. But it’s paid off in adorableness, and added to the growing trend of creative naptime photos: Liao has noticed several other moms snapping similar photos of their little ones while they sleep.
Wengenn is now a busy toddler with nap times few and far between, but that hasn’t curbed Liao’s creativity. The mother and son duo come up with ideas during story time, and then work together to make the ideas a colorful reality.
“Now it’s more fun,” she said. “It’s not as strenuous as before. He understands and listens.”
