Dump Truck Baby


That looks mighty uncomfortable…

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43 Comments

  1. Jim T.

    W.T.F. is wrong with people?Did someone pay someone for this shot,if so they got ripped off big time.

  2. is it dead?

  3. Because the dump truck is the focus of the picture, not the baby…

  4. That’s awful. And probably dangerous.

  5. Faith Simbeck

    Pretty sure this isn’t a composite shot! UNSAFE!
    And he appears to be dead.

  6. This is child abuse.

  7. Rufus T. Firefly

    That’s one way to dispose of a dead baby.

  8. Pelham

    This reminds me of an incident some years back when an employer had a horse die on her. She loaded it into the back of her pickup, and hauled it down the highway to a large animal clinic to have it necropsied. I followed behind in my car, don’t remember why I had to be there to see a dead horse get winched out of the back of an F-150 crewcab…ah welll…anyhoo, I guess it’s the limbs sticking up in the air that reminded me of that time. *sigh*

    RIP, dead baby.

    • Jeff O'Neal

      HA HA HA If you watch the show Archer, read “R.I.P. dead baby” in his voice.

      Also, this person should have his camera stolen and his copy of photoshop deleted.

  9. This is photography abuse.

  10. Sad part is, this COULD be an adorable shot, and in a much safer way. Place a blanket in the truck, place baby on stomach, lay head on hands, and do it in a composite so the baby doesn’t tumble out (which, if it didn’t, consider yourself lucky, because this is an accident waiting to happen). And please, for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, stop using selective color!

  11. Rhinda

    I wonder if plastic dump trucks are load rated to carry massive cement babies… For that matter how much do concrete children weigh?

  12. No joke. My four year old just saw this and asked, “Why is that baby in that truck?” I said, “I don’t know.” Then she asked, “What if he gets hurt?” Good question. If my four year old thought to ask this, why didn’t the “photographer” or the poor kid’s parents?

  13. Darren

    Selective color is bad enough. But what fascinates me is the object that people choose to emphasize with this technique. Why the truck and not the baby?!? It shouldn’t be done, period. But if they’re going to do it, emphasize the right subject!

  14. And suddenly every dead baby joke I ever heard comes to memory.

  15. So. Unsafe. It. Is. Terrifying! And where was the parent? I’d have been like Hell no!

    • I don’t have kids, and don’t take (nor plan to take) pictures of kids, and I don’t understand why this is unsafe. The angle of the back prevents the baby from sliding out, the sides are high enough so he can’t roll out, and his head is supported. What am I missing?

      • I have kids and do sometimes take pictures of them, so let me try to help. I’m sure others will have lots more to say after me. 😉

        For one, this is a plastic truck, and that baby looks to be pretty ‘solid’ – he likely weighs much more than that toy was intended to hold. Add some wheels and the whole thing becomes a wobbly mess that can roll away and is just itching to tip over.

        And while the baby in this photo (grey though he may be), looks like he’s not going anywhere, babies don’t tend to lie still too much, unless they are asleep or, in fact, dead (which as a mom, I can’t even joke about, sorry). So as soon as this little guy decides that it doesn’t exactly feel good to have his back arched like that and wants to kick his feet and move his arms, you’re back up to the first note I made about the baby being placed on top of a toy that was not intended to hold babies. One twist of that baby trying to wiggle out or get comfortable or get to his mom/dad, and he is going to land face first into the dirt, probably with a toy truck on top of him.

        If the baby could sit up on his own, was awake, and had a parent extremely close by (as in with a hand ON the baby which is later edited out), then this picture might have been kinda cute. Oh, and I’d like to see what color the baby is, not the distracting bright orange and yellow of the toy truck.

        Hope that helps make sense of the freaking out about the safety issue! 🙂

      • FalconGTHOI

        Lol at the people in a frothy panic about how this baby could get hurt. Seriously? Also, who do you think PROVIDED that prop? The mom.

        Also, Ive concluded for this site to be accurate to its intent, the name needs to be changed to “You Are Not PROFESSIONAL Photographer”.

  16. justme

    Hey! How many dead babies can you fit in a dump truck?

    oops! sorry, the gray baby just made me think it was dead

  17. Gotcha!
    This is definitely a composite you loons (no shadowing, odd cut-off by the left elbow). Not a bad one but I have to agree – WHY??
    And a big NO to selectIVE cOLourinG, paRTiCuLarLY of the wrong SUBJECt (‘cos that’s how it looks, only in WOrDs..!!!)

    • I really hope you are right about this being a composite. I thought the elbow was just being squished by the truck, and it’s hard to tell time of day with all the lack of color…

    • There is nothing composite about this you loon. What odd cut off? dumper trucks have higher sides at the front. This is what the elbow is pressing against.

      http://www.constructionphotography.com/Details.aspx?ID=1702&TypeID=1

      No shadowing? There are no strong shadows at all, even cast by the truck, and the light source is from behind, which means the light is likely to be highly diffused. An over cast day perhaps?

    • someone

      I disagree. I don’t think anything you pointed out shows proof of this being a composite. If the photographer knew how to do a composite wouldn’t they know how to better pose the baby?

    • robert

      Disagree.
      The shadows and the DOF coincide too much for this to be a composite. You can even see the arm of the baby being squeezed by the truck’s edge.
      This is definitely done by someone who doesn’t have a clue.

    • This is not a composite. The elbow that appears to be cut off, is simply the elbow smashed into the angle of the dump truck bed. There is shadowing, if you look closely at the lit side of the baby from the sunlight, the shadows are falling where they should be. Under the truck and to the left of the baby’s head are all shadowed, but barely, which suggests that as barely there as the shadow looks to be, it’s probably too bright to start.
      I have a feeling that the fauxtog did black and white because they overexposed, and black and white can usually help you subdue some of that.
      Totally separate issue though, what the HELL is around the baby’s neck! Not only is this photograph’s composition a total dump (get it??) but the safety consideration is non-existent.
      SMH.

      • Baby is wearing dogtags.

        The dump truck is probably a safety issue, not because it can “roll off”, but because it can tip over if the baby starts kicking. The dogtags are not a safety issue… the parents are standing right next to him. He’s not going to suddenly strangle himself with a chain any more than placing a GI Joe on his chest is going to suddenly cause him to swallow it.

    • This is not a composite, unfortunately I belong to a photography group with this “photographer” let me tell you, when she posted it all Hell broke lose. I’m surprised it took this long to become public.

  18. I keep thinking of Monty Python and “Bring out your dead!”

    Gruesome. Truly gruesome.

  19. Did anyone else hear or tell “dead baby” jokes in high school in the late `70s, like; “What is easier to unload, a truck full of dead babies or bowling balls?” I’m not giving the punchline.

  20. robert

    I don’t care too much for the “photographer” taking this shot.
    I care even less for the insensitive “dead baby” comments from the audience of this website as if it were a joke. Perhaps this site brings out the worst in some people.

    • someone

      I agree. Put yourself in the parents’ shoes. No parent is ok with making light of their child’s death, made up or not. Just because you are anonymous doesn’t mean you have to turn into a total asshole. Not only that, didn’t the parents suffer enough paying for garbage like this.

      • Pelham

        Uhm, let’s see….so first off, said parents didn’t have enough brains between them to look at the fauxtog’s portfolio first which would probably show infants in similar situations? Or their lamentable ‘dead baby’ pp skillz? Or question the safety of putting their precious child in the back of a plastic toy?

        At any or all of the above stages, either parent could have said ‘Hey, this looks like kinda crappy/unsafe/dangerous and you want us to pay you how much???’

        But they must have been OK with all of the above, and then happily paid for it…because it’s all so KYYOOOOOOOOTTT, with a baby in the back of a dump truck…that’s called getting what you want.

        Who says they’re suffering?

  21. Wsroadrunner

    I’m sure the use of a garbage dumpster is next from this fauxtog

  22. I actually saw this done once and it looked great! It was done in the sand, baby on belly, sleeping with chin resting on crossed arms on top of the cab. It was lit perfect and very nicely done.
    This one, on the other hand, is not so good.

  23. do they have trucking insurance to carry dead babies ?

  24. Did you see a sign that said “dead baby storage”?

  25. Melissa

    Why is no one talking about the perspective/angle of the picture or the crop…thats the most amature angle I have ever seen and it should be cropped horizontally, not vertically. This is absolutely not a composite shot. The photographer never could have gotten the same horrible angle twice.

  26. Chels

    It’s sad cause this picture can actually be really cute, I just took a picture of my friends daughter who is ONE mind you, sitting in the back of an “old school” dump truck, her Mom is standing right there just in case (Even though she is more then capable to hold her own) and it is absolutely adorable, (of course, i’m not a professional, and I did NOT use any spot color)

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