Family Circle Memories

I'm getting ready for a little trip here in Georgia.  So I have the usual feelings of already "missing" my family before I leave.  Kids are in bed, fast asleep and I am all packed ready for a long drive.

This is a little picture my then seven year old son made on his birthday showing how we were having a good time with his then three year old brother a few minutes before.  He wanted to remember the moment, and I wanted to remember the image he created as well celebrating the love surrounding him that day.  When I feel like I do now, I pull it out and look at these types of good memories long past.

As Scott Bourne said in a recent speech, photographers are the guardians of all our memories.  After an event fades away, the photos are often the only physical memory we'll be able to keep when the other trappings are long gone.  So take the photos, and make each one the best you can!

-ehw

PS Check Scott our on http://photofocus.com/

Build a home to fly free

This summer my father found he had a shallow spring at the corner of his property.  So he had it dug out to make a pond, and then left and overflow drain to keep the creek flowing regularly.

One consequence of building a pond on the farm was that wildlife now gets a new home to flourish in.  This lovely bird is one that took up residence in the pond area.  On the grace meter... I will happily give this one a 10 out of 10!

This reminded me of the movie "Field of Dreams" when the hero is told, "Build it and they will come."

Instead of a baseball field, my father combined some diesel powered bucket loaders with nature's life giving water to make a new home for some of God's creation.  A home to which animals flock to and obtain strength to fly free towards their dreams.

I hope we can all find the springs of life God put around us, and build them up using the tools God gave to glorify his name.

-ehw

Perspective Changes

After shooting several people in the Model A truck over a few days, I had to literally find a new angle to shoot the truck.  Looking up I saw the mirror, and decided to have some fun with it.

I like the photo, but the reality is that you cannot tell if this is an old truck, a Jeep, or a go cart.  So I learned something about perspective in reviewing this shot.  The first lesson was if you keep looking around you can find interesting perspectives of a subject you missed before.  This perspective change may not however meet the goal of the image's sponsor to show off people in a clearly identifiable Model A..  In this case I have a cool photo, but it does not scream, "Cool Model A!"

-ehw

Sheep teach photojournalism!

Dinner time was calling these sheep, all only a few weeks old, to come with their mothers to dinner on a Virginia farm.  The sheep were pretty well mannered about everything....although some did find a way to get more than others!

After dinner my children held several of the lambs, helped get their water ready and did a few other tasks for their aunt and uncle who raise them.  When we were done, the babies were left in the heated barn to protect them from a strong cold front that hit that night.  The little lambs needed the extra protection, just because we don't want to lose any of them!  Just minutes after we left I missed an opportunity I'd wanted to capture for years on the farm, the birth of a lamb.  The last pregnant mother gave birth to two more lambs.

I have to say that is one of the hardest sets of challenges facing photographers wanting to capture a realtime photojournalism story:  We have to be there, the conditions need to be "right" and we have to be prepared for those two conditions to collide before us.  This gets even harder if you want to make that moment art.

I think that is why, even though I love all types of photography, trying to capture the beauty of life in its own moment is my favorite type of photography bar none.  I love the challenge and the reward that comes from these adventures, and I say quite a few prayers of thanks when I see the moment captured in my frame.

-ehw