There are many good parts to my job.  In fact, most days, I can't believe I have the good fortune to have the job I do--I am truly very lucky.  One of the best parts is meeting truly wonderful people and maintaining great relationships with them, both in photography and in life. 

The portraits I'm using in my writing today are of a baby--a delightful little girl that is so easy to photograph, and especially expressive with her huge eyes.  But, more than just a baby, she is the child of two people that I met through my Wedding Photography work several years ago--I was happy to be the photographer for their Wedding Celebration.  So, from the engagement photos in the fall, through the wedding the following May, I got to know the bride and groom.  By the time we finished their fun wedding shoot, I felt we had become friends.  Through that relationship, I have also become friends with the bride's family, including her sister, who regularly brings her two young sons up for portrait work as well, and the entire bunch of them are just the neatest people you could ever want to know.  I have received referrals from them, and now, I am having a great time photographing that bride and groom's daughter, Ava, pictured here. 

I have several different families that I do such extended work with, and it is truly a precious experience to see the children grow and change, and to get to record fun, special moments for those families.  I, myself have completed my own childbearing experiences, but these children who grow up right in front of my lens--they become very near and dear to me--let's just say any of them could come live with me and be completely welcome.  And it is a huge honor to be trusted with capturing the milestones in these families' lives.  I am not only creating art, but, I am their record keeper.  Photos are important.  They have the power, through the extremely simple technology of an image printed on paper, of transporting you to another time and place in your life. 

Lucky, lucky, lucky. 

Be well.

The Appeal of Snow

I take a lot of photographs.  A lot.  Both for business and for pleasure.  And I am different than most midwesterners seem to be about the weather.  I always find it funny how, when in the midst of a sweltering summer, people (including television news crews) seem to find great pleasure in complaining about the heat.  And then, six months later, they gripe about the snowdrifts.  And yes, I am sure there are people who prefer one over the other--this time of year the population appears to run high to those who want to live on a palm tree shaded island.  But, I am not one of them. 

I like all of it, really.  Hot weather brings great opportunity for infrared work, comfortable outdoor photography, and wonderful underwater photography.  Spring and Fall each have their merits as well, from the newborn leaves just hazing the April tree branches to the piles of red, gold, and tangerine leaf piles that mountain up in everyone's yard come October.  There is always something to shoot.  Wintertime has a special charm as well. 

First of all, if you have decent snow, you have the perfect world for classic black and white photography of all types.  Simply because there is so much white.  Then, when working with people, there are so many fabulous clothing opportunities--chunky knits in great colors juxtaposed with all that vast whiteness just look good.  And the regular world just looks different with a 6 inch coating of white snow---the ordinary becomes a winter cathedral.  And just like in underwater photography, people of all ages become children again when plopped in a snow drift.  Opportunities are everywhere, as long as you keep your batteries warm and bag your camera before you come inside. 

All of these samples were taken in the last few weeks here in Southwest Iowa  for various purposes, but it strikes me how different they are, even though all were made in the snowy surround.  Depending upon lighting, location, activity, and purpose, as well as the ranging weather conditions, they are each a varied expression of the same season.  

I can't imagine living anywhere else--I love all of the seasons.  Winter is maybe my favorite though.  At least until spring.  And then summer.  Of course, there's always fall.....

Lies, Truths, Answers and Mosquito Bites

The picture I feature with my blog today is really the subject of this post.  All of the past 3 days here at Lovett Castle (and if you have seen my house, you know I jest) have been SNOW DAYS--great for my kidlets, yes, but challenging for someone trying to get some work done.  And not only have those days been snow days, but they have been REALLY SNOWY DAYS, as has been noted on every television and radio newsprogram the whole wide country over.  I'm sure you've heard of it---SNOWPOCALYPSE, SNOWTORIOUS B.I.G., and probably a multitude more that I haven't heard.  So, everyone has been in a snowy frame of mind.  Which is where we come to this photograph---a striking ice storm shot over a frozen pond, everything dressed in a lustrous, pristine white coating of crystals.  Very apt for where a large part of us are right now.

But, that photograph is a LIE.  Yep, a big, fat liar-liar-pants-on-fire lie.  It was taken in the full heat of a luscious, green July with frogs croaking and mosquitos buzzing in my ears, no doubt some of them grabbing a quick lunch at the restaurant located in that one spot that I can't scratch on my own back.  Nice waitresses there, I hear.  Anyway, that image is a black and white conversion of a digital infrared image exposed in full sun, 90 degrees out, at least, everything leafy and green, felt like the equatorial jungle though it was on some backroad in southwest Iowa. 

 

Several years ago, I purchased a consumer digital camera.  Which for me, is just not the 'done thing'.  And I don't mean to sound arrogant about it, although that comment probably bleeds arrogance at first blush.  The reason I don't purchase consumer cameras is because, in general, they don't hold up to the considerable use and abuse I foist upon them.  However, when I bought that camera, I had a plan.  I bought the nicest, but cheapest camera that would accept my collection of lenses, and, when it got here, I promptly relabeled the package and sent it off to have it converted to infra-red.  Turned out to be one of the best creative decisions I ever made.  That little plastic-bodied camera is still with me, and still makes pictures that can be blown up to 20x24 enlargements easily.  And, for that infra-red camera, that image is the truth.  As true as a photograph can be, anyway. 

I think of creativity as a way of looking at things.  A way of providing new answers to questions, maybe questions that have been asked a million times already.  And, when faced with the question of how to photography that delightfully green swamp in the picture, well, I came up with an answer, that, for me, was unique.  BUT, and this is IMPORTANT---IT ISN'T THE ONLY ANSWER.   See, when you take as many shots as I do--100,000 or more in a year---things can get a bit stale if you don't look for new answers.  A fresh new answer brings a fresh new feeling to all the rest of my work as well--not just the series of infrared shots I made that particular hot July day.  It bleeds into the rest of my work--my portraiture, nature work, wedding photography, underwater photography---it bleeds just as surely as that mosquito did when I flattened it on my shoulder.  But, if I revisited that particular location today, no doubt, my answer would be different.  If I had had only a visible-light camera with me that day, another answer would have come into my brain. 

And that's it, for me anyway.  Finding new answers to keep EVERYTHING new. Sometimes a whole SLEW of answers to the same problem.  Sometimes, the answers flow---and those are the blessed days.  Sometimes, they come hard, as hard as the ground underneath that pile of snow outside my window.  But, hey, that's life, isn't it. 

Be well.