My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and the mystery of it all.
Here’s a candid portrait of one of the regulars that shows up irregularly. Wait, maybe that’s one the irregulars who shows up regularly. Wait, maybe it’s both! Anyway, he works at campus and was on his way to a meeting so he stopped to grab some caffeine and said “Hi.” What a gift to see him again. He’s a good man! And, now that you know who he is, say “Hi Shawn” the next time you see him.
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
Marcus Aurelius
“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
Mother Teresa
While taking this self-portrait my granddaughter was trying to make me smile. She succeeded. I needed to use one of the presets in Topaz Adjust to make me look handsomer. I go back to work today on another 4-day trip. So here’s a gift to everyone, a smile. 🙂
The solution of the problem of life is life itself.
Thomas Merton
Life is not attained by reason and analysis but first of all by living.
Over the past few years my idea of “living life” has changed. I have been working at spending more time in nature, respecting nature and all life forms, spending time with family and friends, laughing at myself and others, taking more risks, walking my own paths, worrying less, learning to accept others views, traveling, photography, maintaining my health, being grateful and, of course, watching sunsets.
This was taken for senior photos this past week.
It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like,
Paul Caponigro
it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.
This young lady is an artist. At the time this image was taken in 2010 she was a senior in high school. Life had not been easy for her and her mother, and some of that is what you see in her eyes. But, I think what you really see is the strength and determination of this young lady. She was teaching herself to play the guitar as the money for lessons was not there. She enjoyed drawing. She was also one heck of a basketball player.
Six months prior to this image she, her mother and myself went hiking in the Hocking Hills area near Columbus, Ohio. I brought along my old D100 and a lens for her to play with. She enjoyed the photography and we were able to shoot together a couple more times. So, that Christmas I gave her one of my old D100s, a 50mm f1.8 lens, a spare battery and charger, a couple of memory cards, a small camera bag and the manual. She cried. Her mom cried. I grinned. So, because Riley and I had been able to connect over the past six months it was easy for her to drop all masks and make eye contact for this image. I could be nuts but in those eyes is an artist so I agree with Caponigro.
Seems everyone has a phone and many of those are smart phones. For example at lunch the other day all six of us in the restaurant were on our smart phones either texting, emailing or checking our blogs. (I’m in the later category). CNNTech article states that , “45% of cell phone owners said that their phone is a smartphone. Also, 49% of cell phone owners said that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. — which includes BlackBerry.” And, most of those are owned by adults. I have one. They said in an article that the biggest growth in smartphone ownership was among adults aged 18 to 24 (up 18%); the next highest growth was among those aged 45 to 54 (16%). Other demographic segments with high growth in smartphone use include whites (15%); those with some college education (14%); and women, rural dwellers and those aged 25-34 (13% each). The article also stated “The slowest growth in smartphone use was among people aged 65” which means I have 3 more years to go before I have to put mine away. Of course by then I probably will be using the next generation of whatever it is. So, this morning I was doing as this young man, enjoying a mocha latte and checking your blogs.
Portraiture is a window to the soul.
Anonymous
Ali and I were working a tirp together. At this hotel they provide a continental breakfast in an open area near the lobby. The room had windows on three sides and presented some really nice reflective light. With a little coaxing she let me take a few images. As you can tell she has both a physical beauty but inside is an even more beautiful soul. Thanks, Ali!
I’m doing something a bit different today. I am going to photograph Paul and Kathy’s wedding. Kathy works with me as flight attendant and Paul is a FedEx pilot. I haven’t done a wedding in years but I wanted to shoot their vows, making it a photo-journalistic style shoot. Nothing formal but capture the celebration, the family and friends who will attend. I went down to their place a couple weeks ago to see the house and take a few test shots. Here’s one of the bride.
I would like to take credit for this image but it is not my image. A few years ago my sisters and I gathered some images of family and created a group of images to give our parents for one of those digital picture frames. This was one of this images we used. I played with it and wanted to add it to last weeks images of children. Love those blue eyes.
“If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it.”
Jay Maisel
I’m reading a book where the author suggests doing an exercise where we put our digital cameras down and grab a film camera then shoot a few rolls of film through it. His suggestion caused me to wondered where I could find a film camera for such an exercise. But, I just put the suggestion on the shelf and forgot about it. Well, later on that very day I unintentionally discovered my old Nikon FG-20 camera with a Nikon Series E 50mm f1.8 lens attached. I’d forgotten I even had this camera. Not sure it works so, I’m going to search for a battery and try it out. Of course I’ll try black and white. Hope this does not inspire me to search on ebay for an M6.
This is Riley taken at a coffee shop last December. She now has a camera with one fixed lens and is on her way to developing her craft. I think she already has a good eye. I also enjoy framing a pretty young lady in my viewfinder.