I love the work of portrait photography ...
My idea is that portrait photography is an attempt to put someone so at ease with who you are that they give you something of who they really are.
I think everybody is capable of being photographed in a way that is beautiful.
It's about letting the real self bubble up to the surface. It can take time but it's more than worth it in the end.
Raf came to dinner last night, asking if he might use my camera flash while he was over. He was curious about the process of using the master/slave set-up on his camera. Neither of us had attempted it before and it was the best fun I had had in a while. More to follow as I experiment with that in the months ahead as it turns out the Gert's Metz flash is able to make a wireless connection with my Canon flash.
The photograph following was taken when Raf put down his beautiful Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, with its battery pack attached and picked up the smaller Canon EOS 550D, laughing over how to hold it in his big hands. I liked how it looked and took a series of images with my beloved Canon EOS 5D MkII.
It was a lovely evening. Thank you, Raf, for opening the door into this new way of working with light.
I would write that I could spend days photographing this lovely boy but I think every portrait I ever do affects me like that.
I love the work of it.
I was the photographer documenting a child's birthday party and this series unfolded in front of me.
I do enjoy event photography. The work of capturing real life as it unfolds ... nothing like it.
Tickets have been booked and I'm off to Genova in February. I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels to have the promise of wandering back in my life. It's time ... more than time.
Miss 9 and I have begun reading a new book series together. It's delightfully creepy. And I have 'Italian for Dummies' here on my desk. Now to open it and begin serious work.
I have been struggling to fulfil my daily foto commitment. And I'm intrigued because I see it's so much about my inability to give myself too much time off. And the battle is there in the fact that I can't 'snapshot' this commitment. I climb into photography, working my way towards the right angle perhaps, seeking out the right light. I have to be prepared to do ... just do the photography for an hour each day. It's an interesting battle.
And emails ... I've been caught up in a few email exchanges that make me stop to take notes. And I'm printing out interesting blog posts and articles, sticking them into my journal.
My super-talented niece called Katie sent me an email containing the static digital image she made at school and it's stunning. I must ask permission to blog it. Katie's the one in the foreground.
So, I did a 'girl and her guitar' series for the foto-a-day shoot today. I was using my 17-40mm lens on the Canon EOS 5D MkII and I was all but climbing onto the couch as I took the image you find at the end here. I think, in future, I might just stick with my 70-200mm lens. I love that lens. It's my way of seeing ... and being. Potentially my photography subjects may appreciate a bit of distance too.
I photographed this little man when he was born. And every year I've photographed him again. The camera adores him. You can see why ...
