This week’s celebrity is Julie Persons, a Maine photographer in our own backyard. Persons is best known for a project called ‘Chicks in Hats,’ an idea that originated with her 8-year-old daughter.
‘Chicks in Hats’ is exactly what it sounds like–unbelievably adorable fuzzy chicks in teeny tiny hats…
Needless to say, the photographs of Persons’ baby chicks have taken the internet by storm! Persons’ photographs have since been featured on Buzzfeed and in the pet section of People and US Weekly.
Her (somewhat) patient subjects are a mix of 5 Rhode Island Red and Araucana chickens. Each of them is named after a First Lady: Martha, Bess, Mamie, Michelle, and Mary.
Despite all the attention (and their regal names!) the fame hasn’t quite gone to their feathered heads. Persons’ chicks still patiently don their bitty hats–many of them homemade.
For Persons’ daughter, the success of ‘Chicks in Hats’ has become a memorable lesson in the potential of a good idea: “One of my main goals as a parent is to have my kids have confidence in themselves…this project was a great way to show that to her,” Persons says.
Persons sells prints of her photographs on Etsy, and she’s currently working on a book. She also maintains a blog called The Adventures of Claudia, where she showcases a porcelein doll as well as her own quirky sense of humor.
Don’t forget to like Chicks in Hats on FB for a much-needed dose of cute!