06-24-12 A New Friend

So I guess it's about time I post something new. And why not something prosaic like a cat?This cat was one of several who had free reign at a B&B named the Hummingbird House in Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. We stayed there before our chartered sailing trip.He was sleeping when I saw him and I put the 70-200mm lens on my camera because I figured he wouldn't let me get too close and still look so relaxed. I suspect he had a name but I never learned it.

05-16-12 Jill

Several years ago I was asked to do a few portfolio photos for a woman named Jill, who had modeled in her teens and early twenties and who was interested in trying to get back into the market as an "older" model. I said, "Yes" but told her that I had never done anything like that. She had worked with many photographers and told me that she would help me get the poses she needed. Needless to say, I had fun.The interesting thing about the job was that she told me that she wanted very little "photoshopping" done to her photos because a model portfolio should show potential customers what the "real" person looks like. Thus, I gave her what she wanted, though I did use a slight soft focus on this photo.Canon 1dII (?) 1/400s f/8.0 ISO200 95mm

05-03-12 Desi

Every once and a while I discover a photo I'd forgotten I had taken. Such is the case with today's portrait of Desi. This photo was taken in 2002, when I knew very little about portraiture and digital photography.What I did know was that the secret to good photography was good light. In this case, there is some ambient light in the old farm house we are in. But I was also using a Canon strobe light and a white shoot-through umbrella to my right. The beauty of this lighting set-up was that if I used aperture priority with my Canon flash, my Canon camera would meter the flash just right. It provided wonderful light that looked like window light. You wouldn't necessarily know that this is an example of flash photography. (I checked the metadata, and, if you look at the catchlight's in Desi's eyes, you can see the umbrella.)Canon 1D 1/160s f/1.8 ISO320 50mm Scott Shephard

From Another Time

While going through my Aunt Betty's photo collection, we came across this portrait of her sister (my aunt) Phyllis. I was struck by the beautiful, Rembrandt lighting. I also like the sepia tone of the print. I remember reading that toning was more about preservation than it was about creating an effect. Of course, it would be decades before color film would be introduced when this photo was taken - the early 1920s.Three other things strike me about this photo. First, the aspect ratio is very odd by today's standards. I have cropped this photo a bit and the original was narrow and tall. Why? I don't know. The second thing that I noticed was that Phyllis' right hand is blurred, no doubt because the photographer had to use a slow shutter speed. Old films were slow and required several second exposures. Finally, I am impressed with the perfect condition of this photo. It was properly processed and then properly preserved.Who will be looking at our photos 90 years from now and writing commentary?In my continuing effort to get more people to see my students' photos, here's another great portrait, done by Kendra Gortmaker. Her subjects are her daughter and husband and she used availably light to make this photo. Here's Kendra's web site.

Classic Portraiture

My aunt Betty left South Dakota for California when she was 18. That had to have been a huge leap for a petite girl from the midwest. She went with her oldest sister (my aunt) Phyllis. Phyllis moved back to South Dakota after a few months but Betty stayed for the rest of her life.As close as we can tell, this portrait was taken in 1943 in California when Betty was about 22. That's close to 70 years ago.This photo has powerful personal and family meaning to me but as an occasional portrait photographer and as a photography teacher, it is a good example of what I have said more than once to my young students: a well-posed, well-lit portrait will never go completely out of style.Of course, the hair and clothing fashions of the 1940s have faded. And while a white vignette isn't something you see much of these days, everything else about this portrait still "works," especially the Rembrandt lighting. This photo has a sepia tone to it, though the color would have been applied by hand, since color film was a novelty in the 40s.Finally, as I look at this "analog" picture, I think of the billions of digital files (mine included) that never make their way to paper. If Betty's portrait had been done with a digital camera and if it had only been seen and published on a computer, we wouldn't be looking at it today. What will exist 70 years from now that will decode this and millions of other blogs - and the pictures that illustrate them?

An Angel Walks Among Us

You are looking at Veronica, a woman who was hired from an agency to be my 91-year-old aunt Betty's home care assistant. If Veronica had had a job description it would have said that she was to show up 6 days a week, 8 hours a day and see that our aunt was cared for. And Veronica did that reliably for almost a year.Not in the job description was a demand for love, affection and friendship. And yet Veronica offered those things, too. To know Veronica is to like her. Veronica, who only four years ago immigrated to the US from Kenya, has a charm and grace that make you feel like you've known her forever. And her voice and laughter are music.I will also say that we have no doubt that Betty's life was not only extended but enhanced by Veronica's constant attention. They went shopping, they went out to eat and they played along with "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" on TV. Betty's blood pressure dropped from astronomical to normal in the year that Veronica was caring for her. Toprol helps; but it's hard to beat the healing power of love.On the day Betty passed away, Veronica had a premonition that something was going to happen. Instead of going home at 5, she stayed until nine. She told us she would have stayed all night but Vicky, who worked with Betty on Sundays, agreed to take over. On any other night, Betty would have been alone. But on the night she died, Betty wasn't. And at 2 am, when Veronica heard that Betty had passed away, Veronica came back to Betty's house to be with her friend.I just looked up "angel" in the dictionary and the first definition describes an angel as "a spiritual being . . . who acts as an agent or messenger of God." Only God knows if that is true of Veronica. However, the second definition says that an angel is "a person of exemplary conduct or virtue." And our family certainly knows that this is true of Veronica.

Aunt Betty

Early this morning we learned that my dear aunt Betty, my mother's sister and the sole survivor of the generation that precedes me, passed away. She was 91 and died in her California home - exactly where she wanted to be.I took this photo in 2007 at one of Betty's favorite restaurants - Las Brisas in Laguna Beach, California. She is happy in this photo and that's exactly how my wife described her after a conversation she had with her this past Tuesday.Her passing is painful to Deb and me on many levels but it is, as I have said before, part of the circle of life. We have yet to plan her funeral, but when she is laid to rest, she will be next to her husband Cliff and within shouting distance of John Wayne. And I have to smile about that. . . .Two Sisters: Bernice (Mom) and Betty (Beverly)John

Photographers At Work

The photographer is present in the photograph, which shows other photographers from my Lighting for Photographers class on an outing in Watertown.

Me, Myself and I

Such is the nature of the creative process that one often ends up with something very different from what was originally planned. Such is the case with today's rather self-indulgent photo.The task was to take a self-portrait. I was doing this because I had assigned the same task to my "Lighting for Photographers" students at LATI. My goal was to take something simple that would illustrate the idea. At first I tried using a crystal ball that has been in my family for at least a century. But that didn't work (I still want to try it!)I then stepped into my den to see what else I might be able to do and, low and behold, my closet mirrors had me staring back at myself. So I took a photo that showed three of me. And then I remembered that I had an app called WordFoto that I had just downloaded. And then I thought maybe I could do something with layers in Photoshop. . . .And then I ended up with this photo.I do believe there is some kind of symbolism in the fact that the part of the photo with "i" all over it shows less of "me." You tell me what that means!

Mother and Child

I took several photos of Evelyn D's baptism, but I liked this one best because while the main elements of the scene are identifiable, the purest point of focus is mother Alicia's face, which is suffused with a look of love and concentration.Of course, Evie is not an afterthought in this image, nor is her oldest brother, Ethan, who, if you ask me, has one of the best seats in the house.Incidentally, I mean no sacrilege in this comparison, but it was hard for me not to see similarities in the expressions of Michelangelo's Mary and Alicia. Though the circumstances in Michelangelo's Pieta are vastly different from those at Evie's baptism, both mothers exude a sense of calm that is striking to me.Click here to see Michelangelo's Pieta, which is housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Evelyn

This is Eveyln Marie, aged 3 months. Today was a special day for her because she was baptized. For my wife's family (the DeGeests) she is a special child because she is the first female born into the family in over a a half century. My wife was the last.The gown she is wearing was hand crafted by her grandmother, Paula, and was made from many heirloom pieces, including fabric from Paula's wedding dress. The gown is a work of art. And so is Evie.

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