Trails End Equestrian Center Barn Door Mini Sessions at DLSC show

These are  a couple young ladies that I hope will become the subjects of some of my senior portrait sessions with horses. These are from mini barn door sessions that I took while at the horse show at the Trails End Equestrian Center which is a couple miles down the road from my home.

It’s fun to get professional portraits of kids with horses. At these shows and stables, kids can enjoy horses in a very controlled environment that is fairly safe. Kid’s, children and horses, with great smiles, you can’t beat that.

Sometimes I shoot the local horse shows in the DLSC (Dayton Local Show Circuit). Here are the participating farms:

http://www.trailsend.biz/dlscorgs.html

and the schedule of shows

http://www.trailsend.biz/dlscshows.html

Participating Farms and Stables Listed here. Come and join the fun.

Dancing Horse Farm – Lebanon – 513-933-0343

Greenstone Stables – Germantown – 937-859-1835

The Riding Center – Xenia – 937-767-9087

Shelby Farm – Centerville – 937-886-9230

Stillwater Pony Club – Beavercreek – 937-426-9443

Trails End Equestrian Center – Dayton -937-835-5062

Wetherbrook Farm – Waynesville – 937-885-6328

Whitehouse Stables – Sidney – 937-492-3831

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post ontwitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

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.

http://danesanders.com/#/2×2/

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….

Senior Portraits in Snow, Horse and Rider Portraits in Snow & Family and Kids in Snow

Gray and dreary outdoors here in the Dayton area. I cannot wait for Spring and the blossoms and new green foliage.

Right now in the Dayton area, there is not much snow. However the first weeks of February can be unpredictable and we could have what West Virginia is digging out of any time in the next several weeks (first three weeks of February, that is). As it is now, we have nothing but gray and it does not make for beautiful outdoor portraits.

BUT, if the snow flies again consider professional on-location outdoor portraits

If we do get a big dose of snow in the coming weeks, I just want you to know that I am available to take Senior Portraits in Snow. I’ve recently posted some snow portraits with horses along with some tips on how to get great snow pictures and portraits. Lots of white snow is NOT a time when you can just trust you camera to make the right decisions. If you want to take your own pictures in the snow, review my previous posts to get some good ideas, but it you want professional on-location snow portraits of your high school senior or your children (special family time portraits of mom and dad with the kids), don’t hesitate to give me a call when the weather man starts talking heavy snow. If you have a wooly horse that you want portraits with in the snow, I can do those too. If it works out, you will have extra special portraits, completely unique and fun to share. Call me at 937-478-6222 (Peter DeMott). IF the snow comes and IF someone takes me up on this offer, I will share some extra special and completely unique family portraits, senior portraits, or horse and rider portraits here on my blog.

If you missed my earlier posts with tips on getting good snow pictures and portraits with your digital camera, here they are:

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/snow-snow-snow-taking-better-pictures-in-snow/

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/taking-better-winter-snow-portraits-follow-up/

This post is on my web site and blog here: http://www.photosbypdemott.com . It will also appear on my personal facebook page where you are welcome to friend me: Peter DeMott . It will be on my Twitter account: pdemottphoto . And last it will show up on my facebook fan page: Peter DeMott Photography . You are welcome to share these posts and links with your friends in snowy areas, become a fan or friend or follow my web site by subscribing on the top right of my home page. Thanks, Peter DeMott

A telephoto zoom and kids / I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE natural smiles.

I have to say that I have always liked taking pictures of people with a telephoto lens. It is particularly great for taking pictures of kids with completely natural expressions. In this particular portrait I was at a competitive trail ride near Dayton during the vet check portion of the ride. This young rider is the son of Shannon Loomis. All her children are quite cute and this young man was waiting his turn to show his horse to the vet at the finish of the ride. Natural smile come so easily to young children when they are unaware of the camera.

When I do a kids portrait session there is nothing that can frustrate me more than a parent telling their child to smile. Sometimes this results in a completely unnatural pasted on smile that is unappealing. It is not the smile that comes from delight or finding something funny. It ends up being a false representation of the person. There are two things that can help with this. First it is important to instruct the parents that they may not instruct there children during the session. No instructions like, “Not that smile…you know the smile we want.” There is nothing that will cause a child not to relax more than a parent making them feel selfconscious about how they look or what they are doing.

And second I have had good success doing a “candid” session where the parent and the child play together and I tell the parent to just pretend they are alone and to just forget about me. With the telephoto lens I can walk about looking for those natural moments without being right there close to the action. I can be 15 to 20 feet away like I was with this portrait. As I have posted before (this blog appears on my website and on my facebook accounts) sometimes my best images of children occur in the first few moments or the very last moments of a session either before the children figure out that I am photographing or after we announce that we are all finished. Of course all these things depend on the age of the child.

Here is the young boy I mentioned in the paragraphs above – just too cute. One thing that you will notice is that in all competitive trail rides and endurance rides junior riders are required to wear protective riding helmets. In addition Shannon has protective riding vests on each of her children when they participate in these events together.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Natural smiles.

This portrait was taken from 20 feet away using a 70-200 mm telephoto zoom lens using available light.

Child Photography can be so Serendipitous

I had a session with two families at Cox Arboritum here in Dayton.

Before we even started these two cousins came together in a nice shaded area where the light was just right. I had just set my camera adjustments and figured I would fire off a few shots. Now these were the first of several images that I took. The first of the entire session. What do you think?

With children, I think if I could say we haven’t started yet for about a half an hour before then spend about 15 minutes saying, “okay now we are officially taking pictures”, then spend another half hour taking pictures after we were had finished, I would have hundreds of great shots like these. It’s when you are officially “not shooting yet” or when you are officially “finished shooting” that the best portraits happen with children.

Kids can be such great fun and challenge to photograph

I like to take portraits of little kids, but I really like them to be natural environmental portraits. Sometimes it takes some time and experimentation before kids start to relax. One thing that I have to explain to parents it that they cannot participate in directing their children. Directions like, “Not that smile, I want to see teeth,” from a parent just makes kids more tense and nervous about what is about to happen. Kids like to play and that is when their most real and natural expressions come out.

Once they get used to me clicking off the shutter every couple of moments, then they stop with unnatural expressions and realize that nothing bad is going to happen to them. Sometimes I play with them by asking them to do something that may feel a little uncomfortable in order to elicit natural expressions. I asked this brother and sister to look into each other’s eyes. Of course when you are close to another person and looking into their eyes, you are going to start smiling. It’s uncomfortable in a good way.