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.

Wedding Day

Jason and Tracy may look married already in these pictures, but it is not so just yet. They will be married later this morning.

Mormon weddings inside the Arizona LDS Temple are considered sacred events and are never photographed.  Pictures are taken outside before or after the event.

Since a lot of couples are being married and sealed today, the mother of the bride and I went to the temple to make some shots yesterday when stress and time would not be huge factors. 

As a ritual, couples are photographed on the steps as they exit the temple. Behind them there is a revolving door which never seems to stop when the temple is open. The temple was closed so there were no interruptions. ( However, the temple grounds themselves looked like a large bridal show with so many other brides jockeying for prime backgrounds and taking advantage of the more placid environment.)

Today there will be daytime group shots after the ceremony. The light will be different, but that won't matter because the really will be married by then. Maybe Jason and Tracy will have different expressions relative to the solemnity, seriousness, and sacredness of the sealing and marriage vows. I wish them well as they settle in Tucson and continue with their college classes.

Family Shoot

Christmas is not the "happiest...happiest season of all" so it is great when I get to participate in things that are "happy making".

I have often commented that the young children in our family make my day a really pleasant one. As I get older, I enjoy the wonder and innocence that the grandchildren and younger grand nieces and nephews bring whenever we gather together.  It helps that I don't have to worry, like a parent, that their exasperating behavior suggests that I am not doing my job. I get to observe these little ones being their natural selves in ways that do not always demand a disciplinary reaction but definitely inspire joyous pondering and reflecting.

Today's shoot involved 17 of these guys. The oldest was a teenager, who is not old enough to drive, and the rest were less than 12 years old. The plan was large and small family group photos, so there was bound to be some variety of behaviors.There was, but it was all manageable and fun to watch.

No one knows when this family will all be together again. They do know, however, that there will be one more than was there today. For now, each one has a mental memory and will soon be able to view and to print physical proof of those experiences. As an event, it was a happy time for me. I have to say "Thank you!" to all of them for that.

It's just a photograph...isn't it?

This weekend I will photograph a large family group. Then, it will be broken into individual family groups. Maybe there will be some "just the kids" shots. I am certain some of the participants will approach the shoot with the attitude that "it's just a photograph." Well, is it?

As a label, a photograph is what it is, but it is something more. It is an event. It is a memory. It is documentation of a family's legacy.

Individuals come and do what they have to do because it is their duty. They wear clean clothes, paste on a smile, and then walk away. It's finished. No thinking required. Well, I beg to differ.

This is documentation of your legacy. It is what has come into the world through you and everyone else in the shot. It is the result of frequent trials, challenges, birthdays, and both sad and happy moments. In it you are all survivors. All are winners. You are here. It won't always be this way.

After this you may lose a child, a parent, a grandparent, or a spouse. New members may enter in. The size and/or the dynamics of the group will change. Heights and ages will change. Smooth skin will wrinkle. Clothing and hairstyles? You know. It is only a moment in time.

If you are a nit picker about things other than the people, let it go. This is not what a family photograph is about. It is about the people.

After twenty-five or thirty years have passed, people will examine the faces and spirits of the participants. The viewer will wonder and imagine. They may react to the clothing or the setting, but they will be attempting to connect with this "memory". It will not be the same as now.

So if you are having your photograph taken, whether in a group or not, allow yourself to consider a bigger picture. It is a memory. It is a legacy. It is a moment in time. Nothing displayed will necessarily ever be the same again. Viewers will not look at it with a nit to pick. Stand comfortably, but relaxed; strong, but vulnerable; and confident, but not so vain. Give the future a memory to examine and ponder.