honesty

I'm used to the way my camera feels. I don't think about the buttons or dials. It sits more as an extension of my hands and my eye, and it feels natural. But sometimes I think about how un-natural it must feel to my clients. Me (a stranger) pointing a big microscope at them, hoping they'll trust me enough to show me something real. It's asking a lot, and I try to remember that. Even though, it's far from being a formula for success. There are so many variables that go into that delicate dance of getting to know someone on a shoot: newborns peeing on laps, fathers who want to be somewhere else, exhausted pregnant mommies, weather that doesn't cooperate. You never know what you're going to get. But no matter how different each photo session looks or feels, there's only one thing I'm ever looking for. Honesty. Saying cheese is easy. Expected. And sometimes it's necessary to go through the motions to get to the good stuff. But the cheese is never interesting. Not in a conversation, and not in a photograph. It's always a form of honesty that inspires me. We find ourselves in each other, and that makes us feel connected. I think the most important tool that a photographer has, is his or her ability to be vulnerable first. We must be willing to show our selves, before we can expect others to reveal their true moments to us.

sweet mystery

I’ve noticed that I can no longer look at the world around me without a photographer’s eye. So much so that I don’t realize I’m doing it until someone reminds me. Like when I comment about the way something simple looks so complex or the mundane looks somehow illuminated, I will often get either a blank stare – huh? or someone’s light bulb moment—wow! I would have never noticed that but now that you mention it…

For the most part when I turn my lens to the subject at hand I like to think that I am choosing or even controlling how I capture it; the point of focus, the compositional framing, the direction or intensity of the light. But the flipside and perhaps the balance is that I gladly and willingly rely on the help of the mystery of the medium itself. For me, this magic is what breaths life into my work, not me.

And sometimes even when I think I know what I am creating in a photograph, the subject, the light, the alchemy of all of it mixed together in some kind of creative stew brings tastes and smells that I could have never concocted on my own. Maybe that’s why I’m always hungry for more. It’s always one succulent visual feast after the next.

My favorite photographs are usually those that surprise me. The ones I didn’t see coming. When something extraordinary has developed from the ordinary. An image that draws me in and questions what it is I’m really seeing. Something refreshingly stimulating and curious.

What about you? Do you have images that have brought their own magic? Share with us the shots that challenge your senses and tickle your pallet with mystery and intrigue.

Stepping Back

If you peek in the small backpack that has become my day-to-day purse, you'll find my Nikon D80, the kit 18-55mm lens and my lens of choice, the 55-200mm. I'm attracted to detail, so I often find myself zooming in close with my 55-200mm lens wide open to inspect natural objects here on our farm – like an artsy scientist of some sort.  I trace the intricate paths of veins on leaves. I stop the car short to shoot thorny thistle. And I don't mind wasting time watching threads of cow tail hair wave in the breeze on a barbed wire fence.  

But this weekend offered a new view and a chance to shift my perspective.  We traveled north with friends we love to a stunning lake site tucked within the Georgia mountains. The cozy home has remained in our friends' family for many years, and my husband has held fond memories of this special place close to his heart since childhood...leaping off the top of the boathouse...exploring the edges of the 20,000-acre lake by boat... and skiing until his legs turned to jelly.  

So when he plopped in the water and squeezed on his ski, I grabbed my camera and realized that I had accidentally left my zoom lens up at the house, leaving me with my ho-hum kit lens. Bummer. How can I get in close from the top of this boathouse? I thought. But when I put the viewfinder up to my eye, it suddenly clicked.  How could I NOT go wide. So I stepped back and gave it a little tilt, then proceeded to give my kit lens a full weekend workout to really capture a sense of space.

What about you? Do you shoot wide? Please share your lens of choice for shooting wide and any tricks that help you capture a sense of place. And naturally, I'd love to see your shots.

the good old summertime

With the summer comes lots of sun, water and sand. The combination doesn’t sound like the best one for photographers. However, the carefree days at the beach or even around the house can make for playful, fun photo moments. When it comes to capturing the best of the best summer moments, the key is photographic experimentation and not being afraid of getting your feet wet.

Shooting into the light is nothing new around here (just check out these shots from bee bee mod, monamegs and and kristybee) but what about when you add water to the mix? My girls were sprinkler hopping the other afternoon and I was having a blast with my camera jumping in and out of the water sprays, clicking pix of my girls as they frolicked in uninhibited summer glee. The sun and the water only added to the magic.

As we kick off the start of summer, share with us some of your wet and wild photo moments (without the topless stuff, ahem).

And since its Sunday, we’re putting all of the comments posted here into the random drawing for a free copy of America at Home with a custom cover to boot! You have until midnight on Monday to comment.

Congrats to last week’s winner of the book Corey (aka Divrchk)!

Superhero Photo Challenge: the gory details

What you don't see in this series of photos of Ben is that on the other side of this photo is me, jumping up and down in bare feet, trying to make faces, yelling Stay on the paper! Put that down! Don't put that in your mouth! Ben! Look up here! Stay on the paper!!!

What you don't see is the terrible sleep we had the night before, how Ben cried at 2 am, yet even after I fed him he still cried on and off for several hours more. One of those nights when I needed sleep so badly and just couldn't take it anymore... I had no gentleness left. I put in earplugs and put my husband on duty.

What you don't see is Matt playing guitar sweetly for Ben next to me so that he stops and stares in wonder at the strings, the sounds, at his magical dada.

You don't see the meltdowns between shots, the pulling of the little girl's barette, the obsession with putting his finger in other kids' mouths, the crying over wanting to take the toys home, how we bribed him with grapes, the battle over putting the apple that was really a pencil sharpener in his mouth.

This is the magic of photography. And the magic of editing your photos to look back on years from now. They only tell the story you want to tell... And even though they don't always have the gory details, there is something just as true about them. The sweetness in Ben's face, his pure joy at holding a ukulele, the sparkle in his eye... all true.

But the challenge I want to pose this week is actually about those gory details. I want to see the mess, the dirt, the chaos. Give me your real life stuff.