Someone I love died and I only have (fill in the blank) pictures to remember them by
This might be controversial blog post, it is one of those elephant in the room discussions with great importance
When I am with my professional photographer friends, this topic comes up from time to time.
I grew up with photography. My mom used to take pictures all the time and we even did the home movie thing, but as a photographer there are so many stories that I have and that I encounter of how important portraits and connections with people can be. At the same time I see so many people minimize photography. They put off having portraits made. They put things off until it is too late.
Photographer recounts the tragic loss of his father when he was a small child and the ONE photo he has of them together
I’m going to borrow the story of another photographer whom I respect to illustrate what I am talking about. In this short video Dane Sanders explains the importance of the one single 2″x2″ photo he has of his father and himself together before his father died tragically in an automobile accident. I think of the news each night when I think of his story in this short video introduction. Every night it seems there are fatalities from automobile accidents. As an outside sales person, I have more than once avoided a serious accident thinking that had I been in my car 40 seconds earlier that morning, perhaps I might have ended up in the hospital or worse.
Sometimes I feel that this is the elephant in the room for photographers. We want portraits and enduring moments recorded by photography because we love the people in our lives. We cannot say lets have a portrait made because you might die. If I had a story like Dane’s I could just share that, but in my case I have to share from my experiences as a photographer in relation to other people’s stories. People we love die and it is important that we use every moment available to express our love and live life to the fullest. But, when they are gone photographs are the things that can bring back the precious memories of the moments that made up our relationship. Pictures and portraits become so very valuable. In Dane’s case above, there was just ONE 2×2 inch PHOTOGRAPH of him with his father. This is one of the reasons he decided to become a photographer. He explains that for his own family, his wife and children, he has hundreds and hundreds of photographs of the intimate moments of their lives, the lives of the people he loves. He does not want his family (his wife and children) to have the same experience that he had growing up. And he sees being a photographer as a gift to others in that he can preserve the precious moments in their lives.
Young man reluctant to have his portrait taken at the edge of death in ICU
I was scheduled to make some portraits of a reluctant son. Having his portrait made was not his priority list and was not something he wanted to do. But, his mom insisted and I was scheduled to meet up with this young man for a portrait session. On the day that I was going to take the portraits he ended up in the hospital with serious complications from an common illness (usually just requires rest and antibiotics). I figured I would be taking portraits the following weekend, only this young man ended up in ICU at the brink of death for something like 3-4 weeks. He was so close to death on several occasions and we prayed often for him and his family often. God does answer prayer and after many close calls and a surgery which involved an incision down the center of his stomach, he has fully recovered and will be marrying soon. I took a family portrait of this family that shows such wonderful connections, now more than ever I think.
Husband calls: My wife and the mother of my children is terminally ill with cancer
In another case, I was called by someone to take family and individual portraits of him with his wife and children. We scheduled the session the very next day. The following week might be too late. I found it to be such a honor to capture the connections in this family, capturing significant enduring moments that showed the chemistry of their relationships. These portraits will be in honored places in the homes of each child and this husband for the rest of their lives.
My wife’s mother is seriously ill
On a more personal tack, I have been asked by my wife to gather together pictures and portraits that I have taken during family times over the years. Patty’s mom is ill with lung cancer. Patty is making frequent trips to Cleveland to spend precious moments with her mom. Her mother has been in and out of ICU several times over the past weeks and months. From one day to the next, we don’t know if Donna will be with us for another day or for many weeks or for many more months.
And it is not just people that have significant places in our lives
Several years ago at a horse trail event (an AERC endurance ride) a beloved horse stepped on a long sharp stick while trotting on the trail, it raised up and poked a hole in the stomach of the horse. The horse was taken immediately to OSU veterinary hospital, but since the stick had ruptured the intestine wall, infection had set in so fast that nothing could be done to save the horse. Searching through various events that I had taken pictures for, we were able to find several photographs that the owner eagerly purchased in memory of this charished companion. Up until that point she had no significant pictures of her with her horse.
Last of all, it is important to have your portraits printed for display
In TV commercials I see the the national guard helping families who have experienced disasters. In this one commercial a soldier picks up a photo album which survived and was found and hands it to a mother and child. The mother wipes it off and holds it to her chest. Yet many people only have their pictures and portraits stored on computer that have hard drives that will some day fail. In the case of the mother and child, they had lost their home, but they were able to salvage a precious photo album of important times in their lives.
Help others to preserve precious moments by creating enduring photographs and portraits of those they love
Discuss this elephant in the room. Your comments from your own experiences can encourage others to print out those pictures, to have those portraits taken, and to preserve enduring moments of their precious relationships with photographs and portraits. Perhaps you are a photographer with many stories or perhaps the story is like Dane’s and it is about your own family, your own husband – wife – father – sister – brother – friend.
Your turn….
Environmental Family Portraits at Christmas
Patty and I and our family had a lovely time with Pam and Andy and their family Christmas day. In the morning we opened presents at home with our kids here in the Dayton area, then we drove to the Cleveland area first to visit my wife’s parents who are currently both in the hospital. After our visit, we went to Pam and Andy’s (Pam is my wife Patty’s older sister) for a beautiful visit and dinner. But, before dinner they had asked if I would bring my camera and take some family portraits for them.
I think the hint of Christmas is a wonderful way to be in the mood for Christmas year round. Since the portraits were taken in their own home, they will also have a more special meaning. I also took some in their formal family room without Christmas decorations showing.
I showed them a stretched canvas print that I had made for one of my senior high school student portraits so they could see what it might look like as a canvas print. It can make portraits like these into wonderful works of art. I also like to show samples so that people can understand size a little better. The canvas print that I showed them was 16×24 which is a nice starter size for framed display on a wall. It is very common for people to think that an 8×10 or 11×14 is a large wall portrait, but those are considered more for desk and bookcase display and usually look very small once held up to a wall. I even lend various sized print samples to people to allow them to hold them up where they intend of making their display so that they can see how various sizes appear. It is not something that you can do from memory. It’s kind of like bringing paint samples back from the store to hold up against various pieces of furniture to make sure they compliment what you already have.
This is Pam and Andy.
This is their lovely family.
The other images from the session can be seen here: Pam & Andy Family Portraits
What do you do if someone “hates” to have their portrait taken
As a photographer here in Ohio doing senior portraits, equine portraits of horse owners with their horses, and children and family portraits I have found a couple of things helpful in making people more relaxed in front of the camera.
1) Most of my work is location photography so I am at a park or home or stable chosen by the person I am photographing. Whenever I feel that someone is becoming uncomfortable we change up what we are doing. In a park, we walk to another location. At a stable we do some walking shots with the horse and owner. Moving around is a great way to help people feel less confined and stiff.
2) As I am shooting, I look at the back of the camera and comment about how great the person looks, and that I am getting some great stuff. These are honest comments based on the fact that I have captured some great images with relaxed smiles. Sometimes it’s good to ask them for “no smiles for now” and that takes the pressure off them trying to be so perfect, then a little joking and on comes that perfect relaxed smile.
3) Working on location I shoot with a long lens. I have a 70-200mm F2.8 lens that is my work horse. Because I am not in a confined space of a studio I can shoot from a very comfortable distance of 15 – 25 feet away.
4) Rather than move people around much, many times I demonstrate the approximate pose that I want them to take. Then I say can you do that for me? If it seems awkward I suggest that they strike a pose that feels comfortable to them, then I can fix little things with some simple instructions.
5) Sometimes a little activity can take a persons mind off having their picture taken. At the PPSO picnic we asked this young lady to sit on the swing and just relax and do whatever she wanted. As I was shooting, I was commenting on the back of my camera. The combination of the distraction of the swing and the frequent comments about how lovely the pictures were turning out created an atmosphere where she could be herself, have fun, and provide us with great portraits.
6) I like to shoot portraits at my slow motor drive speed and fire off several shots in a row when expressions are changing naturally. Later I can pick out the images that, to me most accurately depict the persons natural expressions.
HELP PORTRAIT Dayton was fun and a great learning experience for all involved
December 19th was the date for HELP PORTRAIT Dayton. As this was the first time for Dayton and the rest of the country, we had no idea of how many people might show up. Would we be completely overwhelmed? Would there be people waiting out the doors or would we be very slow. As it turned out, we were very slow until after 12 noon. So after three backdrops and light set-ups were in place, and tested we sat about for a while wondering what to do.
After about an hour, we just started to play. First we took a group shot with someone’s fisheye lens:
This is everyone that was there at the time including helpers, photographers, make-up and friends.
I took some more portraits for fun trying out the light set-up and thinking about what I would need to set up the same sort of portrait lighting set up in my country barn studio in the future. We had a white seamless paper background and two black backgrounds. At about noon people started coming in for portrait sessions. First one family, then a couple more and then several more. We all had great fun creating and GIVING the portraits away with no payment expected whatsoever. One father grabbed Jordan Begley as he was about the leave, “Hey, I want to thank you folks for doing this, this is our first family portrait….we’ve never had one and this means a lot.” Jordan came over and shared his conversation with me saying that the oldest boy in the family was 9 and he was so surprised and touched by the conversation.
Well as it turned out we had about, I think 50+ people representing 6-8 different families and since we were by no means swamped, we were able to come up with variations and sub-group portraits of each family. But, the originator of this event suggested that we not publish actual families from the event to respect their privacy.
The following images are portraits of photographers and friends helping at the event before actual families started showing up. The beginnings of some good friendships were started and everyone helped everyone else try out various lighting set-ups and learn more about photography together. Some of us were outside of our comfort zones and it was a great experience for all. THANKS everyone who helped and for all the sharing of knowledge at the event.
HELP PORTRAIT initiated by Nashville-based photographer Jeremy Cowart
I was reading my recent issue of Professional Photographer magazine and on the last page they have a new thing called “good works” where they tell about photographers that are giving back to those in need. The reason that I am posting this here is to pass along the idea to my many photographer friends who may read this blog. I was able to look up Dayton and there are about 4-5 people discussing ideas for Dayton already. I joined that group and I will see if I can participate in what they are planning. If not, my wife Patty suggested that she could find some people pretty easily through her connections as a teacher.
Here is the concept quoted from the first paragraph of the last page of Professional Photography Magazine Nov. 2009:
“Help Portrait has a simple premise–just connect. On December 12, photographers will grab their cameras, photograph people who cannot afford a portrait session, print the images, and deliver the prints to the subjects free of charge. That’s it. Pick a population. Take pictures. Give away the images.”
Here are a couple of links to the Help Portraits web site and some example videos that I found inspiring. This is not about making an event to promote any one photographer and it is not limited to professional photographers. Anyone who enjoys photography can participate in the project. In fact in the one video they show make-up artists and others helping in the project. Watch the videos and consider if you would like to participate.
http://help-portrait.com/#/about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3BFwgf1f2I&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tu1XrBn3A
It’s easy to join the NING website to begin to connect with others in your area that are interested in this project. I was able to search for Dayton and found this discussion group already going.
http://community.help-portrait.com/group/daytonoh
Update: The group for Dayton is also now a GROUP on Facebook. If you want to help in any way visit the group page here:
Help-Portrait Dayton on Facebook
Jen and Ken Damon’s Family Portrait Session at their home in Miamisburg
We were all set to meet at the Cox Arboretum for their family portrait session when we realized that there was a garlic festival going on so it would have been a major hassle to get into the park. My wife suggested that we consider doing the session at their home in Miamisburg. Last spring they had beautiful new paver walk and patio along with landscaping done at their home.
When I arrived I checked things out and set up some chairs by their front porch. As you can see it worked out wonderfully and Jen said later that she felt even better that it was at their home. It gives it a very personal feel. This is a one-of-a-kind piece of art that they will cherish for years to come. Ken Damon is the pastor of a Baptist church in Oakwood. Jennifer is a 5th grade teacher at Mark Twain School in Miamisburg, Ohio.
The other thing I found is that the love in this very close family just shines through. Posing was easy and relaxed and everyone had a nice time, even Kyle and Joel who very seldom have their pictures taken. Still hoping to arrange for Kyle’s senior portraits. He wants to wear the crown from being elected the king of the homecoming court at Miamisburg High School. Sure we can do that for part of the session.
