My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
While in New York City I came across this young lady who was standing outside one of the theaters. She was handing out brochures for the upcoming shows and of course with her vibrant smile and personality she was catching everyones attention. When I asked her if I could take her photo she quickly agreed and gave me a beautiful smile and tipped her hat.
This is Grandma Linda and Granddaughter Brooklyn. I caught them eating the cream cheese off the bagel. Asked them if I could get a photo, they agreed and added two wonderful smiles.
I met a couple of friends for coffee and found this young lady, Valentina, happily painting her face and hair with the cream cheese from her bagel. She was quite willing to let me take a photo of her and even hammed it up a bit. Later on I was able to get the image below of her with her father and brother, Florian, as the three of them read a book together.
I’m in Nashville. After walking in my room last night, I ran a tub of hot water and soaked my tired body. Nice! I then proceeded to read a zillion emails and catch up on some blog commenting. I was too tired to venture out with a camera so here is an image from three years ago. It was taken at the airport where the family was waiting for a flight. I think it’s a touching moment. They both seem to be quite comfortable and relaxed, sort of like I felt after the soak.
The previous image of Dianne and this one are the two keepers I got from 16 images, all taken in about 5 minutes. We had just stepped off the elevator at our hotel when I saw the window light and asked her to let me take some shots. I really try not to infringe on any of my crew members but this was one of those times when I was excited about the light. I also wanted the session to be short as we had just finished eating BBQ and both of us needed quiet time after several hours of noise.
Today is packing day and cleaning up the apartment. Hope to leave in the morning for my drive back to Colorado. Hope everyone has a great week!
Portraits are tough for me. I feel confident in my technical skills but feel some weakness in capturing the essence or personality of the person. How many good images I get will depend on the relationship established between myself and the model. The more comfortable that relationship the better the chances for good images. In this short session with Dianne I asked her to find a comfortable pose, hold it while I take an image then move on to another pose. She did very well, I enjoyed working with her, and I believe a couple more short sessions would offer more keepers.
I also enjoyed the diffused window light from our overcast skies, cold and wintery. This window light is soft, delicate, creating minimal shadows with warm tones. But, in all honesty, what really makes this a nice portrait is the beautiful young lady! Thank you, Dianne!
I would like to introduce you to one of those people who has a contagious smile: Tom. His Greek heritage may have something to do with that smile. He is always joyful, enjoying life, and thus the smile. He travels along in this life at a slower pace than most of this western culture. However, he does quicken the pace when he steps on a soccer field with his league, one of his passions. He is not controlled by a cellphone or computer since he does not own either one. He loves people and the conversations that can be shared and therefore never knows a stranger. He likes Greek food (chicken lemon soup) and his ouzo. He has this ability (actually it’s more an obsession) to sense when any beautiful woman is nearby. And, then his smile gets bigger! 🙂