Smith Family Reunion

This morning I photographed the Smith family...Sarah is a good friend of mine and a couple of years ago I shot some portraits of her and her brother and sister for their Mom's birthday. Janeen has wanted me to shoot more of them and today was a perfect day with most of the family in town. They have a beautiful new home out in Hemlock with plenty of woods in which to get lost.

The whole family


Janeen, DJ, Tyler, Stephanie, Sarah






Janeen and DJ




Sarah and Mike


Sarah, Mike, and Waylan

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

While I have been playing catchup the past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about what I am doing with my photography and where I want to go with it. Then I ran across this transcript of a speech by Steve Jobs (Apple Inc.) at Stanford University's commencement in 2005. It is a lengthy read but well worth taking 5 minutes out of your day to do so.

The mental attiude that Jobs describes is a comforting way to think. Knowing, or believing rather, that although the path we take is not always very clear, and you never know what turns you might have to make, but not knowing does not necessarily mean we will not like what is around the next bend or that a detour may take us to a better place. We may not be able to anticipate every bump in the road, but we can make sure the fire inside us always stays lit.

What I get to see through my lens

Young as I am, still in my twenties, I have come to realize a few things about people, about life. My family has taught me that you never stop learning. You should constantly be maturing, improving, benefiting those around you. If you are just running the rat race, then I suggest you reevaluate some things and consider an existence of giving and . I have learned this lesson more from example and through experience than through lecture (which ironically substantiates the lesson itself - learning to grow and improve is growing and improving).

Life happens. We wake up, take a shower, go to work, come home, have dinner, gripe about our long day, maybe watch some TV and then go to bed, only to wake up and do the same schedule all over again the next day. June turns into July, July into August, August into...Next thing you know Thanksgiving is here and the end of another year. Most days are the same with little variations that make some OK, some not OK. Then some days you wish you hadn't even gotten out of bed. There are some days though, in this theatre of life, when we are hit up side the head and reminded that there are many more subtle details happening behind the curtain, than we were aware. In truth, those details are not so soft, so indistinct, but are really the validations to our lives. Those so called incidentals are what make us tick, and help us define who we are. Or, conversely, they can turn us into who we never thought we could be. It is all in your response to life.

Life happens. You can choose to ignore the details, or take the time to appreciate all of the understated circumstances that make this existence worth every cut and every bruise, every trip and every fall.

I previously posted this image from my sister's wedding, but I think it is perfect proof of the intricacies that are our existence. Pictured below are my grandparents, Delmer and Donna, in their mid 80's and (mostly) happily married for 62 years. I took this photograph during a special dance for married couples. The DJ proceded to dismiss couples from the dance floor based upon the number of years married. After all the other couples had lwft the floor (per my sister's plan), the DJ announced that Delmer and Donna had been married for 65 years. Knowing that they were being caught off guard I concentrated my attention on them and caught this reaction:



They are kindly informing the DJ that it has only been 62 years, not an entire 65. I have to believe that everything in the last 62 years led to the lucidity portrayed in that moment. All of the love, all of the pain, the laughter, the tears, the hope, the trials...everything that these two people have experienced together that has kept those synapses firing to recall 62 years ago in 1945, when they exchanged their vows. Some people will just see Grandma making a funny face and a peace sign gesture. But for those who paid attention, a lot more is to be said about this particular moment.

Can you see these little nuances of life? Do you pay attention to the little details? If you can and if you do. Think about them. Learn from them. Apply what you have taken from it. Maybe I am just a hopeless romantic, lamenting on love and life anywhere I can find it. Maybe I am spending too much time behind my camera and in front of my computer. Or maybe there is some substance here. Something that can be considered, pondered, and give service to someone.

Here is an article from the Washington Post that caused me to think about the pictures I take, why I take them, and what can be learned from them, if anything. Thanks to New School of Photography for posting this article on their blog