Self Portrait

Took a self portrait the other day…

The image helped me remember how our children are so often…for better or worst…a reflection of our successes, failures, fears, virtues and vices…

Let us pray we do well by them!

-ehw

The Cowgirl

    My Cowgirl...

    The title suits my baby Big Girl.  Took this after a hot day, late summer birthday party with her friends riding ponies.  I swear you can see her independence, sweetness, and sass all in one shot.  

    Some people say a good portrait is supposed to let you see more than the image of a person...it is supposed capture the essence of the person.  I can use some more practice, but this captures Kelley....

Faces from Today in the Past and Freedom

    As a college student I really enjoyed my history assignments.  Being a photo guy, I of course dug deeply into my pictures, maps and diagrams.  In my senior year at West Point I watched my company pass in review on parade on my first personally acquired camera.  When I printed the photos I found myself looking at a present day image, which could be from the relatively distant past if were not for some modern building in the background. 

   I was soon looking at every historical image differently.  Every image of a battle, congressional debate, city street, factory or farm had me replacing the face of yesteryear with one of ours.  We could be those past people,  if it was not for an accident of historical timing.  This made me appreciate photography even more, and my own place in history.

    The event also made me remember a quote I heard from President Ronald Reagan a few years earlier:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

(From the Quotations Page)

    While our DNA will allow us to recreate moments as actors from the past with ease, certain important lessons such as the American concept of freedom only will be passed on and lived with through deliberate efforts.  Putting myself into the shoes of soldiers, statesmen, explorers, industrialists, farmers and my forefathers getting off the boat only made this lesson easier to understand.

-ehw

Open to Grace: Two Fruits of Classical Catholic Education

    Today our little Catholic Hybrid School will graduate our senior class.  Through family friendships and school events, I watched two of them grow into peaceful and God Fearing young adults.  These two also became my very first senior photo clients!  

    Neil is a quiet young man of deep thought (like some of my best high school friends).  He will go out west to college, and will begin the study of media production from a Catholic perspective at John Paul the Great Catholic University.  This is a great fit for him.  

    In our school I observed how he is a quiet, humble leader of the younger students.  Many boys looked to him, literally looked directly at him, before doing almost anything to observe the example he would set.  His example became their course of action.  He respectfully fulfilled his duties to the school and family very well.  His quiet leadership leaves a void for the school population, which will be noticeable until another boy fills his vacated role.

    Mikayla is a lovely young woman, of sincere virtue.  She lets God's grace work through her life to help others.  She will enter studies at Aquinas College in Nashville this fall.  She will be more than a normal student though, as she continues her discernment of vocation with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, a teaching order of nuns.  

    Again a great fit for this woman's character.  In our school, and with her family, she is a guidon for a prayerful life. You can see it when she enters a room.  Small children hold her hand, and admire her.  Her baby sister simply adores her.  She also walks with a grace beyond her years.  When she enters chapel with her matillia, she peacefully focuses herself and those around her on the mass and prayer.  She is no wallflower though.  She demands unimproved family campsites, and can rough it with the best of them.

   I hope I captured a bit of the reflected glory of God these two bring to the world.  I enjoyed watching as my children gravitated to them at school and band over the last two years.  I knew their example would be good ones, and not misguide my children on their own path to adulthood.  I continue to learn a great deal from their parents as well, since they are good examples of parenting in a stormy world.

    Mikayla and Neil:  May God's grace continue to fall on you, and your souls never let your eyes wonder off the prize of heaven.  You've started the race for the prize well, and may the finish be even more virtuous in God's eyes as you change the world for His Glory.  Amen!

-ehw

Buds posing perfectly

    What happens when you take three sweet little girls, from three different grades, all growing up together over the years and let them play?  Magic smiles and poses appear!  Their different heights made a naturally interesting composition!  Maybe this will make it past the yearbook editor and get a thumbs up!

-ehw

P.S. Ok Fujifilm fans this was my often neglected 35mm prime set at F2.0 to handle the poor gym lighting.  Yes the ISO is 3200, but the X-Series RAW file handles it well in Capture One 8.  Even the jpeg was excellent!  I just enjoy playing with RAW files whenever possible because I adore the extra headroom to craft my final images.

The magic of the 56 at 2.8

    About two weeks ago I splurged on a tool used for a job I did this past weekend: A Fujifilm 56mm F1.2 prime lens.  This is primarily a portrait lens, and it fits right into my goal for the year, to take better portraits of people.  Last year when I test drove this lens for ten days I was sad to see it go home, and I vowed to one day find it one sale.  I found this copy used without the box and lens hood...but for 30% off retail it was a good deal.

    I will be the first one to tell you, it is not the equipment which makes a photo. The photographer makes the photo using the equipment at hand.  I know people who can shoot circles around me using manual film cameras and while developing film in the darkroom.  I will also tell you it does not hurt to have a special piece of equipment or two to use from time to time.  

    So here is one of my first four shots from my short telephoto (ok purists a 56mm on an APS-C sensor is an 85mm on a 35mm camera so yes it is a short telephoto).  A really nice shot of happy boy, who is growing before my eyes this summer.

    I look forward to sharing more from this lens in the years to come.  With a little permission from my last customer maybe I can show you the work I did this weekend for some wonderful women.  Fuji made a classic lens, and I am very lucky to have one to learn more of my craft.

-ehw

Boy Number Two

    This little guy is the life of the party.  You can see it in the energy in his face!  What a happy child and a blessing to be around.  

-ehw

My Girls

    After dinner and having fun on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Playing with some light in a corner near the front door.  The hardest thing is to get the three year old to look up at the same time the bookworm is pulled out of her library book!

-ehw