Archive for April, 2004

Photo Class - Week 4 Homework

April 11, 2004 | Updates

For me to explain my inspiration, it would take an entire blog…which sits before you :).

Samuel is the reason that I took photography classes in the first place. In that aspect, he is my inspiration in 2 ways. First, I want the world to see him as I see him…beautiful, amazing and aware. He can’t talk, crawl, walk or even eat by mouth. But he is in there. He loves and recognizes specific songs whenever he hears them. He knows his favorite movie is about to start by the previews that come on. He knows our voices, our faces and is comforted by us. And his smile…well, it’s the best thing I’ve ever known.

Second, Samuel taught me to really see the world. Before his near-drowning, I lived a “regular” life and I never appreciated the beauty in it. Now I see the beauty in the sky, the tress, the rocks and the miracle that is every.single.movement that each of us makes. WE are miracles and it is an incredible thing to see the world that way.

But, Samuel is the hardest person I’ve ever tried to photograph. He can’t sit or stand. He is CONSTANLY moving. He has a hard time opening his eyes in the light. And he has such pale skin, that editing is really hard. (But his hair…oh, don’t even get me started…the color is fantastic!)

Here are a few photos I took in his room. (A room I recently painted a lighter color by Brooke’s suggestion so that I would have enough light in there :).

Yes, I know, he’s moving out of the frame. But I actually like it. It is so “him” to be wiggling away!

Blurry and cut-off arm…again, so “him”. I love it!

And one of him and I…oh, that look!

Two more things I absolutely love are spring and the love my youngest shows in caring for Samuel. I know this picture is cliche, but to me, it’s a bit of our backwards world as little brother pushes big brother in his stroller :).

And I’m cheating here a little, but we travel a lot with Samuel for therapy and I try to take his picture wherever we go. My most favorite picture of his ever I took this past summer in front of the carousel at the Great Balloon Park in California…

Here are my other favorites from shoots this week…

Thanks, Brooke. You’re the only reason I even know how to use my camera. And capturing a little piece of what I see through my eyes is all I ever really wanted to accomplish with it. And I definitely feel like I’m doing that. You’re incredible!

Photo Class - Week 3 Homework

April 4, 2004 | Updates

Wow…this class is seriously stretching me, which is a good thing! Normally, I just take pictures for myself of family and our activities. But, since I’m taking this class, I figured I’d push myself to do the homework assignments even if they were way out of my comfort zone. This time, I did great at coming up with posing ideas, scouting out the location and thinking about the lighting before I got there. But, when I started working with my subjects, I realized this was an exercise that was going to take A LOT of practice for me.

Things I learned: (1) young children are less aware of the camera and thus, easier to take candid shots of (at least for me); (2) adults are SO PROGRAMMED to look at the camera and smile that it really (I mean, really) surprised me; (3) in order to get good candid shots out of an actual photo session, I would probably need to spend some time explaining the “concept” of candid shots to those I’m photographing; (4) I’m going to have to really up my level of “guts” if I want to shoot adults in a session type of setting. Telling people where to stand, where to look and how to smile was really hard for me. And, I had great ideas of how to incorporate the Jesh De Rox “Beloved” idea into my pictures, but when it came right down to getting that intimate with my subjects, I bailed :). I’m going to have to build up some confidence before I’m ready to move into that territory :).

Here are the few photos I did get. They aren’t as great as I’d hoped, but I learned a TON. And seriously, getting them to NOT look at the camera, was a feat in and of itself :). And I realize that this isn’t the “typical” couple that you would photograph to expand your portfolio, but I wanted different.

Brooke, one question. When dealing with people wearing glasses, do you have any suggestions to avoid glare? There were some photos that were great except the glare on the glasses was so distracting and covered their eyes.