There's one thing I love about Missy! She always asks me to take her pictures. It doesn't matter how slow I am at getting them to her. She is always so complementary. I love how she makes me feel about my work.
(The Gangsta Look)
The other day I came home from a photo shoot and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. My sixteen hundred dollar lens malfunctioned during one of my group shots, leaving me with only one good image out of ten, which by the way couldn't be used because one of the individuals in the photo had their eyes closed. I didn't even have another image I could trade eyes with. Urrrrgh!
That day as I hunted for good light, posing the group in different places, I wasn't able to find good light anywhere. I tried several different places but every shot I tried something just wasn't right. Maybe it was just the fact that the family I was working for was important to me and I wanted to do my very best work, which by the way is never good enough for me. My best just never feels like enough, I always want to be better. Good thing my price reflects my attitude about my work. People are walking away with pictures for next to nothing. I don't care. I want to be good, really, really good.
There is one motivation I have in this life. It is to be a GREAT photographer, not just an average run of the mill picture taker! And my age worries me. My eyes are getting bad and all of it takes a toll on the inside of me. I'm a perfectionist and I rip myself down when I don't feel I've measured up. That's pretty much all the time.
(Crazy Kids)
That day I was having such a hard time I finally just put all those images away and decided to work on someone else's photos. I decided to have a look at Gage and Missy's images. I hadn't pulled them off my camera yet so I stopped and loaded them onto my computer.
As soon as I started going through Gage and Missy's pictures I immediately felt better. Looking through the images got me to laughing and brought me back to what I love about having a camera in my hand.
Life is amazing. It's funny the ideas we get in our head that weigh us down and hinder the great within. I'm sure if I had a professional look at my images here they would find ways for me to improve and maybe wouldn't classify these images as exceptionally great, but I think their pretty good and the great that lies in these photos probably isn't so much about my work as it is about my love.
(Pucker Up)
When I look at these pictures memories come leaping to the page. It was a fun night. We had fun! It was spontaneous. Some of the pictures just unfolded all on their own. They weren't planned. That is always the very best when looking through a lens. That single click striking second when you catch a spontaneous moment, framing it forever.
(Beautiful Family)
That night Baylee was having nothing to do with the camera. She was determined not to let me catch her smile. Suddenly a thought came to me. I HAVE raised 8 kids ya know! I do have some parental strategic tactics tucked away, tactics that have worked over the years. I decided to ignore my granddaughter. I'm telling you, it was difficult. I started talking to Gage and Missy and arranging them just so. Baylee was off doing her own thing. Suddenly she realized no one was paying any attention to her. When I saw that this was bothering her I accentuated my attention even more on Gage and Missy. One hundred percent of my focus was now on the couple before me. Soon Gage and Missy caught on too. I snapped one picture and told them to smile and move.
The above picture was an awesome candid moment. Suddenly Baylee stopped bouncing and running. Quietly she walked over put her arms around Gage's leg and looked right at me with a somberness that almost pushed me over. Her face was making a bold announcement, and there was no way I could miss the meaning in such a look. It was as if she were saying, "Hey this is my family. You're not leaving me out of this shot." When the moment grabbed hold of me my finger was ready, "Click" Awe, one second in time, framed forever.
I think it's the cutest picture. And I think by the rules of photography it's pretty good. The image is sharp. The lighting is good. The composition is good. It has a little artistic flare. I love the rich creamy tones in their skin. You can thank my Nikon for that. I didn't have to edit this picture much. Took me all of two seconds. It came out of my camera good. Most important it had the one element every good photograph has ---emotion. I love it. It's the whole reason I keep doing this. It was a great shot for me. It's a framer.
I had what I consider to be one bad day with my camera. I have to remember I have lots of good days with my camera. Such is life! By the way, I finished the pictures I thought were so terrible. The family liked them. They even paid me after I said over and over again, no charge. Maybe I'm too hard on myself.
Gage and Missy just celebrated an anniversary. Happy Anniversary you two!!! I'm so glad these kids are 'MY' kids! I appreciate them in my life. I appreciate their link in my eternal circle of love, the strength that single link creates in my family. I can't keep track of the time they've been together. I think this is either their third or fourth year. I can barely keep track of my own anniversary and how many years I've been married, forget keeping track of my kids. I also want to thank them for asking me to take their pictures. Today it was their images that reminded me it's OK to have a bad day with my camera once in a while because most of the time my days with my camera in hand are good, good and hopefully getting better!
Happy Anniversary kids. I love you!
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