Saturday, December 22, 2007

just a thought

If you try and fail, it is not a failure. Instead you've learned one of life's most valuable of lessons. If you fail to try, then all you have is failure with nothing learned. Your choice!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

you can't fake passion


I am interested in people who are passionate about something...anything. Passion for your spouse, your career, sports, a favorite college team, photography or your children are all wonderful. True passion cannot be forced or faked. It shows.

My kids go to a wonderful school with wonderful teachers. I was at a holiday program this week with my camera of course. I wandered around the room as the kids ate christmas cookies and laughed and played. I was fortunate to catch this moment between my oldest son and one of his teachers. They were saying goodbye to one another for the holidays. Mrs. Smith grabbed him and hugged him and kissed him. I think this picture illustrates her passion for children and teaching. She has worked at the same preschool for a long time and you wouldn't do that if you weren't passionate about children.

I saw her the next night at another school program and she walked past me in tears. She told me she cried every year at the older children's christmas story. I love seeing this kind of emotion whether it is giving my child a kiss goodbye for the holidays or watching others sing some songs. She is exactly the kind of teacher that I want my children around and I am glad that I had the chance to photograph some great memories. She has passion and it shows.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

angel's from heaven


I had to take this shot during my visit to the Atlanta Children's Shelter. I had taken several shots of this brother and sister throughout the day but when they began to fight it became much more interesting. The boy's name is Angel and the girl's name is Heaven. The irony of the names and the battle that was ensuing before me made me laugh. I was hesitant to get too close as I didn't want to offend the mother but I think this result was satisfactory. I like the focal point on the name tag otherwise the story may have been missed.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

silent night


This is a continuation of my charity shoot at the Atlanta Childrens Shelter. This little boy was a joy to shoot. He had fun with the camera as I followed him around. He thought it was a big game so I played into that. He was walking around with his cookie smiling all the time. His hair, eyes and smile were all electric but it was the shirt that really cracked me up. You see these types of shirts on toddlers all the time but I had not seen this particular one and for some reason it really made me enjoy this little boy.

I took several shots of him as he pranced around me and this one was my favorite. I got all the elements in the frame that I was enjoying at the time. I was trying to keep up with him as he walked around the gymnasium but it was a challenge. I finally decided to lie down on the ground and let him come to me. He was engaged already and me laying down fascinated him even more. He made several passes by me when on the last one I got this shot and it was about what I was looking for. Sometimes to get the shot of children it helps to get on their level. They so infrequently get this perspective so they tend to enjoy it. It definitely is a unique perspective for the photographer and makes for nice compositions.

With this little one I am guessing mom won't get a silent night for christmas this year.

Monday, December 10, 2007

mother and son


This is another shot from the Atlanta Children's Shelter event that I did over the weekend. I cannot tell you how much fun I had doing this event. It was inspirational for my photography and good for my ego in that I was able to give something to people with no expectation for something in return including money. An event like this provides me an opportunity to shoot all kinds of people in a short amount of time and try to capture it in a way that is unique. I think I was able to accomplish this and the feedback I have gotten back has been exceptional.

This shot is not my favorite but the story leaves me with some work to be done and a nice memory. This mother and son came up to me and asked me to take their picture. I said sure and they embraced in a pose. All of the sudden the boy started acting a bit silly and tilted his head to the side. This pose I liked much better. I shot a few and said thank you. The mother asked me where she could pick up her photo. I didn't have a clue what the organization was going to do with my shots if anything. I told her I would find out but unfortunately they do not plan to distribute them to all the attendees.

When I send the disk to the shelter, I am going to include a print of this and hopefully it will find its way to them. If any of the other attendees want a copy of a shot, I hope they will contact me as well.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

i love this shot


I took this yesterday at the University of Dayton's Alumni event for the Atlanta Children's Shelter. This a high school student who volunteered to help with this event. I was working the room trying to make connections with people so I could get some interesting shots. I approached her by saying that I had never seen a pink Santa hat and that I would like to take her picture. She was more than happy to allow me two entire frames. This was the first and the second had her moving away from the camera laughing. I am sure I was saying something witty but it is not coming to me at the moment. I knew I had the first shot so I didn't worry about trying to get some more of her.

I love this shot for a few reasons. Besides her eyes and smile I think the hat provides a nice touch. Her head tilt is so natural and genuine that it adds to the believability of the shot. She is also making a gesture with her hand that is great. I am not sure what she is doing with it but I couldn't have scripted it better. Finally, this event was in a church's gymnasium and it had those awful yellow lights that are so common in gyms. But it also had these great big windows that let in a ton of light. The light I was using is from a window behind me that allowed me a big fat catch light that makes her eyes sparkle.

I think this girl would like to have this shot and I hope I can find a way to get it to her.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

motivation


I haven't taken many pictures lately. In fact, I had not taken one in the month of December. Today I made up for it. I attended a holiday gathering hosted by the University of Dayton Atlanta Alumni at the Atlanta Childrens' Shelter. I was not really familiar with the shelter but a friend asked me if I would come take some pictures of this event. Of course I would.

The shelter provides free day care for homeless families so the parents can try to productively find work or go to work. This event brought the families together to socialize and eat together as a way to celebrate the holiday season. It was thrilling to be able to shoot 300 plus photos of these kids and their families. It made me realize that I really enjoy using my photography in a productive way and if it gives back to others then it is even more fulfilling. I left there thinking that I would like to do more of these events and I am happy to donate my time and effort to great causes like the Atlanta Children's Shelter.

I will probably include several shots from this event over the next few days. I wanted to start with this to show a few things. First, face painting was one of the bigger hits of the day. Kids were lined up trying to get their face painted. I like this shot for the stillness in the boys face and the tender framing of the volunteer's hands. I also like it because I had the ability to use some large windows as my light source in many of my shots including this one. The flash shots are not as pleasing to me in general and I try and avoid it if possible.

I was so glad this event gave me the motivation to get back out and shoot in a productive way.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

the wonderful world of disney


I recently went to Disney World in Orlando. My family and I had a great time and seeing the enjoyment on my kids' faces made the whole trip worthwhile. I found myself walking around with a kid on my shoulders or in my arms most of the time so I didn't get much of chance to take pictures. That is a disappointment because walking around there made me realize what a great spot Disney World is for photography. There are so many things to photograph from children wide-eyed with excitement as the get to the front of the line at Dumbo to the characters in the parade to a father trying to console his child after he drops his ice cream. I think I could spend days trying to capture these priceless moments.

This picture is an example of one of these moments. This child (who I did not know) was so excited watching the parade come by and she reached out when this particular character came over to her. She was giddy with excitement. I didn't get the look on her face but I quite liked this shot of what she was looking at to make her so happy. I grabbed this shot as we were leaving for the day and while it is not a jaw dropper it helps remind me what I like so much about photography and Disney. Both really can make people smile.

Would my kids mind if I go to Disney sometime by myself?