Do You Want Some Color?

Last weekend, I had a great opportunity to be a part of a shoot for the Color Mania 5K. What is Color Mania, you ask? Color Mania is a short, casual, easy terrain race; this is not Spartan or Tough Guy so taper your cross fit induced runner rage. But what Color Mania lacks in distance and difficulty, it more than makes up for in family fun and colorful messes. In short, it is a 5K (3.1 mile) course with four color stations where ten race volunteers squirt colored cornstarch at you as you run by and either attempt to out run the volunteers or embrace the color. Unless you specifically tell the volunteers at the station that you don't want to be colored, you will end up looking like a walking rainbow by the time you cross the finish. I've run a lot of races over the years and I have not seen more smile or more fun being had than at Color Mania.

I know this isn't my usual type of post, nor is it the typical event I shoot. But what I loved about it was the color. I am always encouraging my clients to show a little color for their shoots. Most people are hesitant to do so, thinking that the color will take away from their images, when in fact it can actually serve to bring more life to the photographs. I realize that getting hit in the face with neon colored cornstarch is more than a step beyond what most people would consider their most colorful outfit, but just imagine this race with muted colors and khaki cornstarch...not as exciting, right?

The other aspect of this that made me want to post this was to encourage families and couples to think outside the normal realms of family/couple photography. Instead of colored cornstarch, we could set up a shoot of you having a paint fight. Instead of a shoot in your living room, we could plan to do it while your family ran a 5K or family fun run mile. Instead of going to the playground, your family could take a hike. Perhaps there is something else you have been thinking of doing with your family but just haven't done it. This isn't to say that we can't find and photograph the beauty in our day-to-day goings-on, but simply to say that if we step outside of our comfort box some amazing things (and consequentially, great photos) can happen. I would be more than happy to capture those images for you!

Spring is here. Just in the past 4 days the trees have come into bloom. The weather is getting warmer. It's time to get back outside! I'll see you there.

Picture This: Photographing Your Kids

Be it the holidays, a birthday or just a day at the park, if you are like me you likely have your camera at the ready to catch those special moments (sand castles built, presents opened, or cookie dough faces) or not so special moments (nose picking, crying or falls).  It's tough to get those special moments.  Your kids are always on the move, and if you have two as I do, then you also have to keep an eye on the one not in the frame too.

So here are a few tips on getting better pictures of your kids at those special moments, times you just don't want to forget or moments that can be used as embarrassing fodder later in life (even if you're kids are angels, which they're not, and you know it).

1.  Get Down...Way Down

I always see parents taking pictures of their kids while standing up. Now if your kid happens to be six feet tall, then no problem.  But let's assume we are taking about the little ones for now, because...well, that's who I am talking about right now. We all know what your kids look like from our vantage point, we see them from that angle all of the time. So get down on your kids level or even below them with them looking down on you, and get close! Not only does this get you a better picture, your also likely to get more of a willingness to be photographed from your kids (except of course with the brattier ones...then I recommend bribery). Also, keep in mind the rule of thirds (or if you are feeling fancy the golden mean).

     



2.  Be Sneaky

Now I am not recommending you go out and get the Leica 1600mm, but sometimes it's best to let your kids play and do what they do while you sort of fade into the background and try to capture the fun they are having.  Holidays are the best for this because once the toys are opened, it's play time and nothing distracts kids more (or at least my boys) than a bunch of wrapping paper, boxes and of course new toys.  They're happy.  They're full of energy.  They're unencumbered.  They're themselves.  Now hurry up and snap away, because they are bound to run off, hurt themselves or start fussing at any moment!

3.  Don't Play Set Designer

It's tempting, I know.  I find myself wanting to construct the perfect shot, background and pose.  But these are kids.  These are your kids.  They will move.  They will ruin.  They will not work for peanuts.  Kids can smell the desire for perfection on you, like a shark senses blood in the water.  And what kid wouldn't want to goof off at this precise moment?  Will the picture of that rustic shed in the background with the perfect golden hour sunlight coming through the beautiful fall trees and bouncing right off the back of your kids hair be amazing?  Sure.  Are you going to get it just the way you want it (without the use of sedatives)?  Doubtful.  But what you can do is set your camera to continuous focus and get your kids running around while all the while trying to catch them in that general spot you had in your mind with that background you had thought up.  If they are running around, be sure to keep your shutter speed high to stop the motion.  It may take 20-30 pictures to get it right, but that's what the delete button is for...and just think of the excercise you'll be getting.

4.  Presents Being Opened Is Overrated

Before you get all crazy and start screaming about how cute kids are when they open presents, just sit back and think for a second.  It's a nightmare.  Be it a birthday or holiday, little Johnnie/Susie opens the gifts, small smirk occurs, "oh, just what I wanted.  Can I open another one now?"  At the same time, your dog/cat/other child/grandma/jack-hole nephew bursts into the frame or bumps you.  Houston, we have a problem!  Let's face it, while we need people to make our photographs personable, they often simply ruin pictures (i.e. photo bombing, bunny ears, or just getting in the way).  Wait until the gifts are open and the chaos has somewhat settled, then catch up to what the kids are playing with and get your pictures.

5.  Keep Your Shutter Speed High

You know why your kids are exhausting, because they don't stop moving.  So if you hope to catch them in mid-stride, then you're going to have to bump up your shutter speed.  Of course, this assumes you are going all manual on your camera (which you should be doing, or at the very least shooting in Aperture priority or Shutter priority).  Shutter priority is what you want here, because if you set that then your camera will adjust the aperture based on your shutter speed (and getting you a better picture...with some practice).  To stop motion, you need to be shooting at at least 1/250 sec., even your little ones can't escape this.  But if you want to get fancy and get a blur, focus on your little one and try panning with them at 1/30 or 1/60 sec. while the rug rats run around.  If you do it right, your kids will be fairly crisp (maybe even like glass if you stay steady) and the background will be blurred out.  If you just want to test it out and your kids need to be wound down, this can be a great exercise.  Just get them out, running around and snap away.  The best way to capture the motion blur is to catch them as they move from one side of the frame to the other.  So I like to set up low (see above), with one knee down I place one elbow on raised knee and use that like a tripod.  Be sure to hold the lens with the arm resting on your knee (your shutter finger shouldn't need any steadying and if it does, stop drinking so many triple lattes).  Then voila!  You are your own tripod.  In 20 minutes, you might have some great pictures, but you'll definitely have some tired kiddos...and those are always the cutest!

Photographing your kids can be a blast, both for you and them.  As most kids love being the center of attention, you're giving them what they want as well as capturing some great memories.  Just remember  that not every picture is going to be a winner and you are going to miss some moments.  That's okay, you'll get the next one.  Just get out there and enjoy yourself and enjoy your kids.  You can never take too many pictures of your kids.  So snap, snap, snap and when you don't want to snap, then snap some more!

The Eternal Master of Red Light, Green Light Is Hoping To Stutter Step

No this has nothing to do with the awesome kids game that we all remember along with Red Rover, Duck-Duck-Goose and TV Tag, I wish it was though.  It has more to do with my innate ability to start and never finish things.  And I mean everything.  My gut says "green light" and I run like hell.  My gut says "red light" and I stop on a dime.  I think my guts been effing with me for 33 years now.  From menial tasks around the house to career changes, I start them and never finish them...at least not that minute...or hour...or week...well, you get the idea.

I'm not sure when exactly this started.  I don't recall a ton of these happenings as a child but I do remember a few, like when I wanted to learn to play an instrument.  I was in 5th grade and a lot of my friends were getting into band (no band camp stories here...sorry) and I thought it would be cool too.  My father was actually happy about the idea, aside from the fact that he would have to pay a monthly rental fee for whatever instrument I chose, which turned out to be the sax.  My father is nothing if not frugal, it's cliche but his favorite four letter word is "f-r-e-e".  And I don't mean as in "Free Nelson Mandela", no just anything for free or an amazing (often too good to be true) bargain - like the VHS camcorder he bought for $50 on a corner in Manhattan that turned out to be a box full of saw dust and newspapers.  So needless to say I got the instrument version of the dog speech.  You know the one:

"If I get you this dog (or instrument), then I expect you to walk (practice) and feed the dog (learn your instrument) everyday.  I am not going to walk the dog (practice) for you, and if you start to get lazy then we'll just give the dog away (return the instrument to the store and pray for some pro-rated refund)...blah blah blah".

Of course I agreed to the rules and had no intention on breaking them.  But I was 12 years old.  I was trying to do something cool with my friends.  And for what it's worth, I hung tight, practiced, studied and performed (may be overstating the truth just a smudge there).  But by the end of 6th grade I wasn't really into it anymore and wanted to quit.  My father was predictably furious as by this point he could have simply bought the sax a year and half earlier and at least would have had something to sell.  Instead we just went back to the store and returned the instrument, and to his further disappointment there was no pro-rated refund.

Fast forward to 2006.  My wife (then girlfriend) and I were living in Pacific Beach, a neighborhood of San Diego.  I was really into music, at least listening to it and lots of it.  I was working as a salesman for a CD and DVD manufacturer (not exactly my dream job) and was reaching that point we all do where I was ready to go do something else.  But what?  I was decent at sales, but I had no real love for it.  I wanted to be passionate about whatever my next venture was, that's all I knew.

While chatting with a friend from Manhattan, we got into talking about music production - specifically beats or the making of.  And that financially and practically ignorant bulb went off in my head.  Why not become a music producer?  The new equipment was all computer based.  I knew how to use a computer.  I could drop $5K and be set near professional level.  Although I sucked at playing an instrument, I thought this could work.  I knew what I liked to hear, I just needed to find a way to recreate it.  In my pea sized head, it was going to be that easy.  Jon Krakauer sums up my mentality beautifully in an excerpt from his book Into The Wild (1996):

"It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough , it is your God-given right to have it...I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic". 

The problem is that I was 27, not 17.  Most people I knew were well on their way to a real grown-up careers in law, medicine, education etc.  Yeah sure, some folks I knew were still waiters at the same place since college or rolling around in the same cul-de-sac of employment that I was in.  So I dropped the $5k and swore I was going to figure this out and make my passion my profession.  

Since I am writing a blog as a stay-at-home Dad, you can guess that I am not the multi-platinum album producer that I was sure that I was going to be.  But I still love to listen to music.  And I still have the production slide board and midi keyboard in storage.  For what? I don't know.  Probably because, giving it away or selling it truly means I failed.  Which I undoubtedly did.  I guess it's just the finality of it all and the symbolism.  I have the turntable I was going to pull samples from dusty old records too.  I argue with my wife roughly three times a year over keeping it and the few records I have left (I got rid of a few crates about 6 months ago).  And every time we argue, I start playing some records again and she rolls her eyes.  The problem is that now it won't play on my stereo for some reason and I think my wife sees a light at the end of that tunnel.  We'll see.

Enter current day.  I just got accepted into a course called "Photographer in Training" (or PIT).  20 or so people apply and 5 are chosen based on a number of things, but it appears that passion for the art as well as a desire to make it a real business is what gets you in - plus a darling personality, which I have in bushels as you have no doubt noticed if you have read my previous posts.  After taking a few classes with this company and relearning my DSLR, I was hooked.  I already take pictures of everything my kids do, I just wanted to take them better.  Then that old light bulb went off again and I'm standing next to the deep end of the pool with no arm floaties, the lifeguard is busy sexting his girlfriend and I'm ready to jump in.     

I have the passion.  I've been into photography since my senior year in high school.  An old friend got me into it and gave me a crash course on how to use a camera, he even let me borrow his old Pentax and some film to get started.  It was love at first click.  I know a lot of people out there don't get photography as an art.  Like my wife for example thinks that some pictures are nice, but photography as art escapes her.  Not me.  I love the idea of capturing an image that while may be standard, when shot in a different light, angle or a subject interacting with it tells a story.  Great photographs tell a complete story without words.  I want to tell those stories. 

I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't scared.  Not about my photography.  I think I take decent pictures now as a hobbyist.  I know if I work at it and put in the time that my pictures will get better.  Will I be in the MOPA?  Probably not soon, or even ever.  That's not really a goal of mine.  I want to take pictures that my clients will be wowed by.  Pictures that they want to hang in their homes that other people will see and be wowed by as well (and then hopefully call me to set up a shoot).  What scares me is where will my head be in 12, 18, 24 months?  I've never been this sure of anything in my life - except for when I wanted to play the sax or become a producer.  The fear of failure, or worse, the loss of passion is the only difference this time and I think that fear is a good thing.  If my brain starts saying "red light, red light"!  This time I want to see what it's like to keep going.