This is new for me. Jennifer found me through another friend of mine and knew I was a photographer. She always takes pictures of the kids and husband on vacations but nobody ever takes her picture. So she asked if I did photoshoots for moms (non-models) and decided to take her up on it.
We decided on a place call Petals From the Past as the place to shoot because I had seen on their website the tub you see her sitting in. I thought that could be something fun to do. It was. I treated her like I would any model and we had fun with it and got great shots. The heat and humidity were both high that day but Jennifer kept her col and looked great and we had fun on the shoot. It’s something she will have and remember for a lifetime.
When I decided to shoot Mandy again with the idea of shooting for stock I decided on something youthful and fun with some kind of flair. So we decided on striped socks and braids for her hair and I let her decide what else to wear. I think she did a great job. All my shoots are fun because that’s what I want to do – have fun. But in the process I want to create great images in great locations with great engaging subjects.
We decided to shoot at the laundromat and just have fun with it. These here are strictly natural light which turned out terrific I thought.
The laundromat had only two older men in there and one left soon after we arrived. The other man was friendly and came over to watch us. He chatted with us a while and I found out that his wife had died recently and that he survived two heart attacks himself and now at 82 (he didn’t look that old) was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. He was just doing his laundry when he said he had declined the chemo and would let it take it’s course. I asked about his family being close by and they weren’t.
I’m finding out all this while I’m shooting but at one point I stopped and introduced myself (his name was Cox) and gave him my card with my phone number. I hope he calls because I would like to take him to lunch and learn about him more.
It always amazes me the number of personal stories there are around us and how easily we have our own pat answers on how to handle all the things life throws at us. One truth I am learning is that no matter what a person is or has done or will do; no matter the situation in which they find themselves there is a God of grace who wants to spend time with us in time of need. We get so focused on performance sometimes that we think that’s all there is and while there are expectations we forget the simplicity and stillness of just being rather than doing.
I do a lot of personal work for the sake of always shooting to improve and to make better and better pictures (and to feed my stock library). I don’t know where I come up with my thoughts and ideas but they sort of formulate during the day and then I seek out ways to make them happen. A lot of times my models and I can talk through ideas and come up with better ones because they contribute their time and talent and help refine the process. Of course eating ice cream with 2 softboxes flanking you with a silver reflector near your lap and a camera waiting for you to make the right expression worthy of a click can be intimidating. What I did with Samantha is just wait for the right moment. I was really pleased with the images I got because they were much better than I envisioned in my head. We had a lot of fun just shooting and coming up with the right moment. She’s a real professional.