This week's assignment was about personal creativity and shooting around a theme of my choosing. Brooke's tutorials this week really resonated with me. She's a fan of Julia Cameron. I've gone in and out of the habit of using morning pages for years. They really are a powerful way to unblock the creativity within.  I think I bought The Artist's Way not too long after it came out-we were living in Atlanta. I also really, really appreciated that Brooke brought up a point that is very important to me-the fact that there are people out there that I'm meant to serve-we are a perfect fit and I'm the right photographer for them, whether I ever become known at all in larger circles. I feel like I do make a difference on an individual level when I get photos that are truly personally meaningful for someone.

As I went through the week, I was slammed with work (I've had 12 shoots in the last 5 weeks) and holiday preparations, and nothing was coming to me in terms of inspiration. I was actually feeling a bit of the burn-out that Brooke mentioned.  I decided to just be on the lookout for magic moments as we took our Thanksgiving trip. As I watched my son and nephew play in the hot tub at our hotel, I got my flash of inspiration. It was a combination of the light on the water and in the pool room and their hilarious relationship. I wanted to see what it was like to shoot the reflective surfaces of the water itself and their wet skin and try to capture the fun they were having without interfering.  I fancied myself on assignment for National Geographic.  I actually did write up a quick little shot list and grabbed my camera. Mostly I just walked around shooting. They hammed it up a bit, styling their hair in faux-hawks and wrestling and posing, but I didn't actually ask them to do anything, All of the shots where they are looking at the camera were a result of them saying, "Hey, take a photo of this!"

I am pleased with these images. I find them engaging and interesting, in much the same way that I love the editorial photos in my beloved NG (my first and perhaps most powerful influence as a photographer). They seem to me to be both journalistic but not completely removed from the situation at hand. I tried warming them up, but ended up liking the weird turquoise light of the pool room. I loved the way the multiple sources of light and reflection sculpted all the three-dimensional forms. Everything has highlights and shadows, but all the light is indirect and diffuse so none of the shadows are too harsh.

The first three are the ones I want feedback on.

J is sneaking up on E

Movement in the water made all sorts of fun reflections and refractions. I love the effect of the light coming from all different directions.

A study in form and line

Fuzzy hair after toweling off

They spent minutes staring at and commenting on their wrinkly hands

This is not a homework post per se, because I was technically supposed to shoot a couple OR children, not a couple and children. One shoot was all children (9 of them to be exact), even though a couple of them are in their twenties, but I took those 2 weeks ago, so I hadn't really studied the lessons for this week. But, I'll keep sharing my work and also how it is evolving in the context of the class. I will post homework within the parameters of the assignment for this week during our make-up week 5.

In spite of that, these images do reflect some things we are learning in the class to increase connection with subjects and get natural emotional responses from them. Brooke has introduced us to a concept called Beloved Photography, which she gratefully acknowledges learning from  Jesh De Rox.  It is all about trying to help those we photograph actually HAVE beautiful, meaningful emotional experiences during a shoot rather than only LOOKING as if they are having those experiences. I as photographer am challenged, through invitations and other interactions, to enliven the imaginations of my subjects and help them actually feel love, happiness, bliss, peace, joy and the like. Then what I capture on their faces will not only be genuine, but the images will have much more impact because they will be a record of a truly happy time rather than just a contrived representation of an actual relationship.

I like this idea a lot and I believe in it. I love photography because of the impact of images, and my goal has always been to try and help people see themselves as they really are.  I already do all I can to try and convince people that the photo session should be a happy, low-stress time. I already strive to get out of my comfort zone and actually talk to people in meaningful ways. I have started using interviews as a way to know more about folks and have real things to talk about.

But it is HARD. It takes time and a shift from outcome-based photography (what will they like?) to experiential photography(who are they and what is going on right now?). The goal is not to pose everyone just for the purpose of getting at least one image that is good enough to put on the wall, the goal is to engage the subjects and capture a few moments of actual living.

So, here are a couple of shots each from my last several shoots that give me glimpses of what's possible through meaningful photography, the kind of shoots where both I am and those I photograph are completely present in the moment. As Brooke is trying to teach us, I felt things while I was capturing these moments, so hopefully that will help you the viewer to feel things when you look at them.

This one and the one below are important to me because the 11-year old boy was a tough nut to crack. He had made a conscious decision not to participate fullyand I failed to engage him no matter what I did. Suddenly he let his guard down and just wrapped his arms around his mom.I hadn't even placed anyone yet, but this is what happened for the next couple of minutes.

This is a very close, fun family, but they are very disciplined and helpful by nature, so when I was shooting, they were really good at getting still and giving me nice smiles on cue. I like this one because it really shows their personalities

This one shows their reaction as I told them what their dad wrote about them in the questionnaire. Their posture changed, their faces relaxed, their gazes became intent, and they sort of melted toward each other.

The story of this shoot was the darling relationship between these two tiny brothers. When they were interacting, they came alive. The older one could ALWAYS get the baby to light up and smile, and the parents were so happy while responding to these moments.

This one used Brooke's game of having the boy run into the frame. It worked like a charm-I love this one.

This was my shoot with 9 children. Their mom has NO photos of all the children together and even this shoot was missing their oldest, married son. Anyway, this is the oldest daughter (who organized everything as a surprise for her mom) and the youngest daughter.  A. is getting ready to leave for 18 months to serve a mission for her church, and she especially wanted to capture these moments between the two of them.

This family was easy. I just followed them around a lake and watched them adore their little girl. I hardly had to say anything.

I've already learned so many things in this class. It was a good decision to sign up! This week our assignment was to pre-plan, use the posing guide we've been building and think about the principles of building a pose, varying a pose and exhausting a pose. I love that concept, especially since it makes for more economical shooting and of that I'm a fan.

All of these were shot with the lens my husband calls The Exalted One-my Canon 70-200 2.8 L lens. I love its softness for portraits.

I love Brooke's suggestion to try this one in black and white. Much better and with much more impact. And maybe because I'm so used to always shooting with trees in the background here in the Great Eastern Forest where I live, I didn't even see the big tree behind them as a merger, but immediately with her master eye, Brooke saw the two edges of the tree trunk pointing straight to the girls' heads. I shoot in the woods all the time because there are so many of them near me. I will now look with a fresh eye for even the edges of trees. So, here is take 2 on this one, with the edges of the tree softened with some cloning, a slightly closer crop and the image converted to bw.  I can also drop the leaves out even more to blend the tree trunk, but I was dancing with losing the line of their hair and getting some artifacts if I fiddled too much.




The other comments were also spot on and very helpful-I was actually taking notes. :o) Unfortunately I can't change the crop on the one image where her hand is shaved off the tiniest bit and those monkey bars were curved, so I was not able to look down the whole length of them. I did have the same idea! Just to demonstrate what photos can mean to a family, here is what the mom said when I showed her these:

I especially love the one of J studying the "treasure" in her hand; it truly captures who she is. I used to say she was the "pickingest-up kid" and of course, she can get totally lost in her own personal examination of her latest find. The pic of H through the triangles is so meaningful...  when she was in first grade, she agonized over not being able to do those monkey bars. Every day she'd practice and practice, and every night I would agonize over the blisters and callouses on my sweet 6-yr-old's hands. Such tenacity, that kid has. And darned if she didn't lick that challenge along with all the others that come her way. This shot will remind us both of that whole experience for the rest of our lives. 

 Thanks to Brooke for all the time and attention she gave to each of our assignments!

Yes, I'm taking another class, this time online, from photographer Brooke Snow. I liked her work, saw that she was offering a class and took the plunge and signed up.

This week's assignment was to focus on preparation for a shoot at a new location. I already had one on the schedule at a location, as luck would have it, that was in fact new. I already do quite a bit of pre-visualization and preparation; making shot lists and writing a sort of story for the shoot, checking my gear, formatting my cards, etc.; but Brooke's recommendation to do an interview with the subjects beforehand was what I decided to add to my repertoire this time. I found it really helpful to know more things ahead of time than what this wonderful mom had already expressed in her initial request for a session. It did refine my fluency and ability to engage in meaningful conversations on the fly with the two girls I was photographing and, I think, get some really beautiful emotions and responses.  Brooke mentions in the manual for the class that sometimes the plan goes out the window, but that having a plan gives one confidence to move through the shoot and not be thrown by the unexpected twists and turns, both for better or worse. In other words, I can better go with the flow for the unplanned magical shots that appear and I am better equipped for the ones that don't work. I find this absolutely true. I don't always consult my notes and plan, but having pre-visualized the shoot equips me to be flexible and happy.

One big advantage for me right now in my arc as a professional is that my clients are more than 80 percent close friends. I actually really like this because the compliment I receive over and over again is that my photos are personal-that I capture details, relationships and moments that a mere hired photographer would not know were important. Thus, Brooke's method of getting in the habit of conducting interviews grows in importance in my mind so that when my business expands beyond my close circle, I will be able to achieve a similar level of intimacy.

We were also assigned to exhaust the location and I was definitely in luck on this score. My subjects were a pair of beautiful and bright sisters, aged 11 and 9 and we were on the familiar grounds of their elementary school. All I had to do was keep up. :o)  They showed me places I never would have found, even after my scouting around, and it was fantastic to look at the location through their eyes. I think I will occasionally go through the exercise of trying to see a location through the eyes of an adventurous and curious child. There was no thought of what would work or what was practical, it was purely emotional.

This shoot was just at and after sunrise on an overcast day, so I had to push the ISO to 1600 at times. We had some moments of sun, so I was able to get some backlit and sun-kissed shots as well. I have only done the most basic of editing on these because I actually have 2 more shoots today and another on Tuesday, so I need to get this taken care of now.

So, here are my three favorite images from the shoot. I like these because for me they summarize what the mom wanted me to accomplish, including capturing this moment in time with the girls on the cusp of young-womanhood (their innocence and playfulness), to capsulize some memories of a beloved elementary school, and to communicate some of the elements of their relationship:

canon 5d mark2 iso 1600,  f/4.5, 50mm lens, 1/125 sec

canon 5d mark2 iso 1600,  f/4.5, 50mm lens, 1/640 sec

canon 5d mark2 iso 400,  f/2.0, 50mm lens, 1/2000 sec