Hot in Arizona

This summer has been a hot one. That is normal for Arizona. Still it gets tiresome. If we grandparents are too old to run through sprinklers or soak in wading pools (that are way too small!), the grandchildren are not. And being two years old does not mean that the youngest one is too little to learn about water balloons.  They are just another way to beat the heat.

Happy Birthday, Janie!

Janie Rose Brooksby joined us on this earth two years ago today. Last night her grandparents and family got together to celebrate a little early. She did not mind. In fact, she did not seem to care much about all the fuss. She will accept a gift anytime.

As kids tend to do, she valued the bag that we brought her birthday purse in more than the purse itself. With the pink bag, she could carry all of her gifts around.

I liked this image of her listening to John read a small book that she had picked out for him. After all, she is her daddy's girl.

Playing with Collage on these posts

A composite of shots from our trip to Texas. These were the main players. I just went along to document the experience.

Off the Road Again

In March, when I went to New York, I mentioned that I hate taking touristy snapshots. They remind me of the old travel slideshows where the viewer sits there with little connection with the ever changing images on the screen.

A few days ago I returned from our Trip to Texas. My daughter and her family went along. I went as a sightseeing guide and resource on family history. I allowed myself to make snaps this time only because it is doubtful that those who accompanied me will ever return. Family members are passing on.

Capturing images of my grandchildren was akin to documenting a panicked mob running from nature's wrath. You get what you can get. (Traveling with children under the age of 12 was an unforgettable experience.)

Taking their pictures was a satisfying experience. Still, I returned home with the proverbial slide show. I dare not show it to anyone lest they give into the impulse to toss stones at the screen and me. So I will spare even you. However, here is one taken at the Petrified Forest when we were more at the end of our ropes than at the end of the road.

Transitions

As a school teacher I always looked forward to May. It was a time of transition. School ended. Students moved on. And I got some rest.

As a retiree, I lack regular transitions. I have to experience them vicariously through others. It can be as satisfying.

Last night, Maya, my friend from the previous post, performed in her last production with Jeanne Wright's Dance Group. The program was a nice respite from the previous week of endless travel, and I enjoyed watching her perform. Perhaps, next year she will be in a new level as a dancer. In August she enters kindergarten.

Adam, my oldest grandson, just graduated from kindergarten. He is definitely ready for first grade. There is little likelihood that I would ever interest him in dance lessons. I will just look forward with him to the first day of classes in August.

It is nice to watch the changes others experience as regular time. Less stress on my part. Still, there is a little bit of envy and lots of celebration on my part.

Maya

I have known Maya spiritually since before she was born. Her mother, her aunt and I taught at the same school when both of them were single and not related to each other. Maya, and her cousin, Lily, were just something that happened in the ten plus years that the three of us worked together. I am not related to any of them, just kind of "adopted".

Tuesday Maya turned 5. I was off shooting a wedding when she turned 4 last year so her mother wanted to make sure I took photos to commemorate this year's event. Even then, it was close because I am leaving town tomorrow.

We hurriedly drove to Freestone Park in Gilbert and I shot like the wind because Gloria wanted to attend the Commencement at Mesa High. (Some of our sixth graders graduated this year.)

Well, Maya is no model wannabe, but she is a great trooper. Dancing is an important part of her life right now. That meant two wardrobe changes. And although the shoot was about Maya, mother managed to sneak into a few poses. Maya photographed beautifully. Somehow, we ended up with a decent number of keepers.

Her mother will not be able to receive the proofs or final product until I return from Texas. Nevertheless, she can get a quick peek here.

I recommend that her Daddy start saving up for a nice, handy shotgun. It is going to come in in about ten more years.

A Documentary Travel Journal

In a week or so I will accompany my daughter and her family to the area where I grew up in Texas. I do not get back there often. Funerals are usually the motivation so that the photos I grab are related to that event and snapshots of survivors.

This time I will be traveling with three grandchildren, ages 2, 4, and six. The drive is long. They may not handle it well. This may be the last time they ever make the trip since my elders won't be around much longer.  So, I have decided to create a documentary travel journal. It will allow occasional breaks and let the grandchildren participate.

There will be the usual posed family shots. We will note tombstones at various cemeteries. (My family has left few other notable monuments to record or remember.) At my step-mother's farm, I hope to let the kids interact with the wild hogs, roaming deer, and ostriches at the nearby ranch. Perhaps, the fireflies will be out. (My own children slept through them 20 years ago.) Maybe we'll visit the Peter Pan memorial in Weatherford like we did in 1990.

There will be dinosaurs outside of Holbrook, AZ and the LDS temples in Lubbock, Tx., Albuquerque, N.M,and Snowflake, AZ. All of these things will be noted in the photo journal and photographed with the kids in front of them, but the highlight for me will be a visit to Ft. Sumner, N.M. After all, Billy the Kid is buried there. If now one else is impressed, then, they just take a picture of me standing by his grave. I will loan them the camera and they can put my picture in the journal.

Viewing a Photograph

When someone hands us a photograph, it takes only an instant to respond or react. We can take a longer time ruminating over the image, but we make up our mind pretty darn fast.

We forget that a photograph is the capture of an instant in time on film or taken digitally. Sometimes the photo is pleasing. Sometimes it is not. Taken an instant before or an instant after, our reaction might be completely opposite of the one we are experiencing now.

The photographer can use composition, lighting, viewpoint, framing, shutter speed, and depth of field to affect the outcome. When he shoots landscapes, he has the most control. When he brings people into the scene things change. Even when he has the control of elements and poses in the studio, he cannot control a person's self-perception. Shooting people in situations outside the studio puts him at great risk of failure, rejection, and condemnation. There are so many variables that he cannot control. In the instant that the shutter clicks, maybe he will get lucky.

Keep these things in mind when you view a photograph. A moment before or after the click, you were probably beautiful.

Whether or not a photograph is taken outside or taken inside a studio, it is documentary. Posed, you look pretty good because of all that is disguised. Otherwise, you are stuck with awful truth, which may or may not be discomforting. That is how you looked in that instant.

Is Wedding Photography Over-priced?

Personally, I think so. Many of the items connected to the wedding event are over-priced. (I also think my dental  needs are over-priced).

After the wedding and reception are in the past two tangibles remain: the wedding dress (which one may never use or see again) and the photographs. A photographer often uses this to justify his price. They do become memories and relics that brides and families will cherish for years to come (unless there is a divorce). This fact adds value to the price one pays.

The price one pays may include a second or third photographer and/or a videographer in order for one to be able to see the many elements of an event that one misses while being the center of attention. The price also includes matters related to the photographer's gear, insurance, studio, transportation, life style, and, in some cases, child-support. The photographer is probably worth it.

Being cost conscious I look at things from a skewed viewpoint. If I pay $10,000 and only view the photos on my anniversary for the next ten years, the rate is $1000 a year. If  I continue in the same fashion over the years, the rate goes down as long as the marriage lasts. If I view the images 1000 times, each viewing costs me $1. Less viewings than that raise my viewer's fee. If I divorce within 3 years, I may wish I had some of that money in my pocket for current expenses. (In my case, it was an annulment.)

Well, I am just ruminating, being rational in my cash-strapped stage of life. A bride can use whatever criteria she wishes for justifying the price she pays or the photographer she chooses. Price alone may not guarantee memorable images. I doubt that many brides realize that view these pictures in 20 or 30 years will change. Some may cringe when they look back and see how much they paid for photos that are now "dated" and somewhat embarrassing, especially if the images follow the current style instead of being "classic".

Since I will never be the bride, I do not have a real answer to the question.

Alice

I have known Alice ten or twelve years now. She was the school librarian. We’ve laughed together and retired a year apart. We traveled to a conference together. We have sat and talked, joked and pontificated. We have come together over Happy Hour or a simple staff potluck. Hopefully, she has enjoyed me as much as I have enjoyed her.

This weekend she put her family in front of my camera.  I had met Marty, her husband, and tried to imagine the look of them standing side by side because she is definitely short next to him. I felt comfortable when their children and grandchildren gathered at the Mesa Arts Center and let me aim my camera at them.

Any photographer likes an opportunity to take an extended family such as theirs. When a group is as friendly and flexible as this and there are grandchildren among the crowd, it is so easy to have a fun experience.  I never walk away without having learned something new.

A New Career

In June I retired from teaching. It was a second career. Event photography is becoming my third career.

A $15 35mm film camera was my high school graduation present. The photos it produced were beautiful and fulfilled my artistic urges. I loved capturing the events and experiences around me. The camera drowned in Vietnam in 1965.

 I owned other cameras but did not shoot much.  Film and developing were expensive.  When I became a school teacher, I had more disposable income, so I sponsored a camera club for my 6^th grade students.  Interacting with them, sharing their discoveries, and documenting our school and its events restored the thrill of taking pictures.

My Soldier Boy, on his second tour in Iraq, sent me a digital camera for Christmas. It lowered expenses and added immediate gratification.  Motivation, excitement, and fulfillment increased as retirement neared. I could have the freedom to do something I really enjoyed.

Nearly a year into retiring, I am still an “amateur”. This will probably never be a primary source of income. I don’t mind. Amateurs can still earn money while having the freedom to grow.  And it is wonderful to be able to meet the needs of the many people, whom I have known over my years in Mesa.

Wedding Photography is not new.

At the Watertown, N.Y. library I discovered the book Weddings by Barbara Norfleet. Published in 1979 it contained wedding photos, an overview of weddings from the 1800's into the 1970's, and interviews with photographers who had been doing these kinds of shots over multiple generations. It addressed some of my misconceptions.

Weddings have been extravagant affairs for over 100 years. Brides wore white before Queen Victoria. Large numbers in the wedding parties were not unusual.

Pictures included detail and table shots. There were the bouquet toss and the garter toss.The move from studio cameras to "candid" cameras allowed "getting ready" shots.

Speed Graphic 4 by 5 cameras and the handy 35 mm camera led to relaxed, candid shots. If a family member, the bride, or the groom got caught with eyes closed or not facing the camera, oh, well. No Photoshop magic here.

Finally, the photographers interviewed bemoaned the fact that amateurs were threatening their careers since the new cameras were so easy to get and use.Their income was going down. Except for Photoshop and digital cameras, things have not changed much.

Tourist Trap 2

Whenever I travel, I fear people putting the label "tourist" on the photographs I take. I want them to be better than that.

There was nothing to fear in Watertown, NY. It is a small town and had a few monuments and statues. There was lots of Victorian era architecture and a famous battleground somewhere nearby.

The architecture reminded me of movies. There was the "Psycho" house. One for "Pollyanna". Another screamed "Poe". Surely, "The Munsters" had their house here. There were more. We do not have houses like these in Mesa.

To assuage my fears, I appointed myself the role of National Geographic apprentice wantabe. At least I had an audience at home waiting to see my pictures: my friends and  family. My pictures will tell them the story of the last three weeks in a small New York town. You can see more here if you want. I am still editing photos, so check back later.

Deployment photos.

This was the second time that I attended Jacob's departure for foreign battlegrounds. I took my camera to record his goodbyes with Nikki, his wife.  I tried to capture a little of the mood going on around him as so many of his men are going through the same experience.

You can see the photos here. These are the friends and families that we waited with and interacted with until the men were called into formation and marched away.

Jacob's Deployment to Afghanistan

This is the fourth time we have watched Jacob leave to serve in foreign countries in a time of struggle. It is Nikki's third time in their marriage.  At this point there is no panic in his leaving. There is sadness and apprehension but acceptance.

Jacob left with uneasiness. At yet he has not encountered trauma or assault. He knows that with each deployment, the odds of being fired upon or facing serious challenges increases. Experiencing the realities and damages of war are unavoidable. It is only a matter of time before it becomes personal. So he has concerns.

Our faith is strong and our prayers are sincere. I believe he will be okay.

No More Freebies!

Lesson recently learned: When one does a free photo shoot for individuals, they feel a sense of entitlement instead of ownership. It is not costing them. They are not sacrificing. It is done for them, not with them. Critical comments and demands increase. Gratitude is only minimally expressed.

I do not mind being generous with skills and talents but the final product costs money. When individuals pay for services, they are owners and participants in the end result. In this position their respect for me increases. No more freebies.

Tourist Trap

After the last blog a photographer friend expressed concern about my ideas and limitations on shooting when I travel. He is a good friend, so he was not being confrontational. I think, therefore I write. I have been thinking about our exchange. Time to write.

When I travel and take pictures, my images need to stand apart and be interesting. I already know that I can take a picture that is equal to any tourist shot. They can take tourist shots as well as I. However, by my standards, my pictures need to be noticeably different.. Also, if what everyone is shooting has been in National Geographic or is available on a post card, I probably will skip it unless there is something compelling. If I need to shoot the subject, I will challenge myself to make the picture mine and not a copy.

Here in Watertown I have not seen anyone else walking around with a camera. There are no tourists. Also, there are no postcards to buy to send home. I am home free. I get to make my own postcards. There is no competition.

Photography when I travel

Right now I am in a different state and trying to find ways to use my camera. I can always take pictures. That is the easy part. However, I am not big on the old style tourist images made for slide shows. So I get stuck trying to figure out what I can photograph to create a nice image that won't get the touristy label.

This location is different from Arizona. The weather here is night compared to our perpetual day. Wet when we are dry. Lots of historical imagery is here while we plow ours under for modernization. The people are pretty much the same. I don't photograph the food and paste it on the web as some people do.

I can shoot buildings and churches, statues and all the things we do not have back there. But then, I become a tourist and not a "professional". What am I going to do? It is hard to decide.

I know there are people who want those shots of old buildings and historical landmarks. They want to see the oddities that we lack out west. They need the posed family shots. What do I need?

I need to feel challenged. To get around that, I give up the focus upon objects and subject matter. Since photography is about capturing light with patterns and contrast, that is what I look for. Maybe I will come away with one winner. Maybe one image will jump off the screen and demand to be printed. At least the camera will not be stored in the suitcase while I am out exploring.

Photographs and footprints

Photography is a functional art. Some people do it as a hobby while others do it as a career. Some take pictures to document a reality while others shoot to document a fantasy. Parents do it so they won't forget the changes their children went through. Others do it to have memories of what they went through. Some do it to record what the world around them went through.

Photography documents an event, an era, a culture. It tells a story. It makes time stand still or takes us back in time. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on things overlooked or missed. It allows us to understand things we might have been too young to understand. It touches the inner emotions and memories and connects us to friends, family, and humanity.

I shoot pictures because I enjoy capturing individuals in their memorable moments.  I strive to help people have their memories, their documentation, and their opportunities for understanding. It is wonderful to know that these images will ripen in meaning, value, and significance on the footprints of time.

War is Hell.

I believe it has been four years since Jacob last deployed. That was his third trip to Iraq. Next week he will deploy to Afghanistan for the first time.

In a few days I will take the Greyhound to his station in New York. Again, I will capture the tearful goodbyes between him, his "Band of Brothers", and their wives as they go and serve their country. I am honored to do that.

Blue skies.

This weekend was cold, wet, and grey. It kept us housebound. Since rain is so uncommon here, people do not know how to adjust their driving for puddles, flooding, and oil mixtures on the surface. Lots of crashes happen on rainy days. I stay off the road.

Late Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and there was light. The sky took on beautiful jewel-like shades of blue. Usually we have so much light out here that skies seem more white than blue. Gorgeous.

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Future Bride

Yesterday we went over the the LDS Temple. It is well landscaped and decorated with spring flowers. There are a couple of ponds. We took the grandchildren along  to let them see things and play around a bit in the gardens.

If no one else is getting married, the Mormons are. Every Saturday couples get married in the Temple and then come outside to have pictures taken with their families. Since I do wedding photography, I like to hang out and observe how different photographers do their work.

Janie got to stay with me while Lorraine took the boys into the Visitor's Center. She climbed up and down the steps that serve as risers for so many pictures of couples and their extended families. We were not dressed like these groups, who were in their Sunday best, and people ignored us. I figured if anyone had said anything, I could just remind them that I was there to take pictures of  my "bride". Of course, she is only 18 months, but I reckon I need to practice anyway.

Wedding Photography...What are you looking for?

You are planning to wed within they year. Already you are looking for an affordable photographer to capture your day. What are you looking for? What do you expect? What will be your role before the camera?

Brides (and sometimes grooms) cover a broad range from laid back mellow to bridezilla self-defeating. What they want or expect from their photographer also has a broad range of potential. Some want a simple documentation of the experience. They stay out of the way, trusting that the photographer will capture the emotions and honesty of the day. Others prefer something more structured and formal, wanting more control over what the photographer produces. Some are actresses on a stage, acting out a childhood fairy tale or fantasy wedding, a complete production event with elements of honesty and innocence sneaking in around the edges. The final group wants the photographer to capture their relationship as a sextravaganza, almost a boudoir shoot with guests. (It is entirely possible that they style that you choose from these ideas will affect the price you pay for the images because of the manipulation and editing that may be required of the photographer.)

I shot a civil wedding on Saturday. The couple did not like the images. They were straightforward documentary. During the experience the couple was stiff and bored. Getting married did not seem to be their idea. I tried to make something meaningful out of the event, and I was pleased with my shots. They got their monies worth, but they did not like them. They realized too late that this was how they looked to the camera...and to their guests.  Oops!

Brides and grooms do affect the final photographs. It does not matter which style you prefer, but your choices and expectations can affect the final product you receive or the price you pay. If you come away unhappy,you may need to consider the "role" you played in front of the camera, before you go after the photographer.

Wedding Registries

Nearly all of our nieces, nephews, and and children are all married off, and it is too soon to deal with the grandchildren. Most of the wedding announcements we receive nowadays come from friends, co-workers, and church members. Many include a small card telling where they have made a list of things they could use.These a are called Bridal Registries or Wedding Registries. The most frequent ones we see includeTarget, WalMart, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. A few brides toss in  Nordstrom's, but our neighborhood is a few steps beyond that side of the tracks.

Since everyone expects a gift nowadays and givers often fear the old jokes about receiving five toasters and three blenders, it can be a good thing to know what the couple needs. Not a bad idea.

Well, the wedding process is expensive by the time the caterer, venue, florist, wedding garb, limos, photos, honeymoon, etc. have all been figured in. When all is said and done, what tangibles will remain on the dawn of the next morning?  A wedding dress and photos of the event. Of course, there will be the couple's booty which may actually include more than one toaster and more than one blender.

Here is an idea. See if the photographer will set up a registry so that guests can contribute toward your photo package and videos. Shooting the event is pricey. Settling on prints and albums afterwards is pricey, even in a package. Allotting money for this one item knocks more than a few dollars out of the budget. Perhaps, family and guests might just as easily contribute toward this one expense instead of trying to find something on a registry list after all the good stuff has already been taken. Think about it. Nickels and dimes add up.That could leave the couple a little more money in their budget to spend on their honeymoon or apply to their new living circumstances.

Shy People

Sometimes, people are naturally shy. Sometimes, they just do not want to be the center of attention when it cannot be avoided.

Lorraine and I were married 33 years ago. I did not like being in the middle of it all, so I  probably shut out a lot of memorable moments. No regrets. I smiled once in a while. The pictures people took bring back pleasant memories when we look at them.

A beautiful young couple got married in a civil ceremony on Saturday. Both were shy to the extreme. Expressions ranged from straight faces to abject boredom. Even the officiator had minimal success in generating relaxation or a smile. Laughter was minimal. Out of the 60 plus images that I culled from my photographic duties, only one had the hint of a smile.

I wonder what they will think when the get back the proofs? Will they have pleasant memories when they revisit  the pictures as the years go by? Maybe, I should be glad they paid me up front.

Learning new things.

This weekend I attended the AzPPA Convention in Phoenix.I enjoyed myself but it left me tired.

I was cynical about going. The event was better than I expected. There were good speakers and really entertaining ones. There was motivating instruction and just so-so instruction. I came away informed, encouraged, pensive, and challenged.

One undeniable observation was that individuals, professional or not, view photography, digital or film, through different filters. The attendees and judges of the print competition did not always see with the same eye. And when I watched the slide shows of various speakers, who had been introduced with resumes full of accolades, I was happy to see some of there "lesser" works included as well as the "show stoppers". I left believing I could equal some of their examples.

Time to get to work, I guess.

Event Photography

Today's MLK parade.

I call myself an event photographer. That is, I prefer to shoot events. Events involve people, and I like the vitality that humans add to an image.

Event photography is a documentary process.  It catches memories as they are being made.

Events are activities: celebrating, participating, observing. Someone receives an award. Someone does something stupid. Rituals and incomprehensible events occur: birth, marriage, death, pain, suffering. The job of the event photographer is to help you remember, even in the midst of trying to make sense of it all.

One does not have to be a professional to do event photography, although some people get paid to do it. People usually pay when they cannot do it themselves or they want a certain quality or kind of image. (Remember your wedding pictures or the time you wanted a photo so you would not forget the beauty of your child as a baby?)

So, nowadays, I photograph events: weddings, funerals, baptisms, quinceaños, even something as simple as a young couple sitting on the couch and holding their first child. My job is to capture the memories that you make.

Memento Mori or Remembering the dead.

Funeral Pictures. Whenever I mention to people that I photograph funerals as one of my services, they respond with a grimace of uncertainty. I suppose people forget to acknowledge that a funeral is a dual event: a saying of goodbye to a loved one and the gathering of those who remain.  Sometimes, the reunion is just the prelude for another one's leaving, so it becomes a record of family unity and change. A third validation is to photograph the ritual and memorial. Sometimes a burial is accompanied by pomp and honors, as it was for our Border Patrol veteran.  In the old days, funeral photography included shots of the deceased, but now that is done only at the discretion of the family.  It was common and referred to as "memento mori", or remembering the dead. Finally, sometimes a family just wants images to share with others who could not attend but want to participate in their own way.

Funeral imagery is not created to be gruesome or to cause nightmares but but to document a reality of man's existence. One does not have to shy away from it.

Things just are not the same anymore.

Today's iPad, iPod, MTV, and wii generations have been cheated. I grew up in the era of Life and Look Magazines, National Geographic and the Saturday Evening Post. Their photographs and illustrations made me think and laugh, wonder and sometimes wince. I still use their images to decide whether or not a photograph I take is acceptable or not. They left lasting memories.

Last week I photographed the funeral of David Wright. He had only recently retired. His Border Patrol comrades honored his passing with respectful ritual and caring. I wanted my viewers to connect with the solemnity and respect at that event. Like it was in those old magazine images, there was a story to tell.

On Christmas day, I had the privilege of shooting Ken's family that has grown since he married Judy. It was a rare time when everyone was there. That circumstance demanded documentation and could tell a story.

Two major shots mattered:  one of Ken and Judy and everybody else and one with only the grandparents and grandchildren. Those two experiences created mental and physical memories for all of us. It was events like these that sometimes ended up on the pages of Life.

Framing grandparents and grandchildren together is a challenge. Parents try to get their children into some kind of position (not pose) that won't embarrass them in the final print. It works or it doesn't. The attempt is sometimes more photogenic anyway, but you really cannot shoot those struggles. It would not be nice.

It was the "everybody" shots that brought back memories of those old magazines. There are pockets of where visual storytelling is taking place. Other groups look like something out of a Norman Rockwell cover for the Saturday Evening Post. His pictures, with their down home Americana and innocent whimsy, made me want to be an artist.  The placement of some faces, interactions of bodies and individual expressions reflected what I saw in his paintings. They connected memories from fifty years ago to new ones that are only beginning to ferment in the mind.