Author: duckshots

Lapsed lawyer. Reader. Photographer. Jewish. Strongly attached to loving, caring, wife-Sharon. Working at remaining relevant. Hoping that my body and mind outlive my dreams. Maybe something I blog will make some sense.

Bostrom Family Portrait

Not so easy to shoot a portrait of a family in their residence. People have stuff to do. Dad has to hay. Kids have to play. And Mom, who has a responsible job outside the home, has to drive the kids to Brattleboro so the grandparents can take them to Connecticut for a short vacation. Cannot stay too long. Have to keep the camera and the models focused. Rearrange the furniture. Set up the lights. Meter. Color card. Shoot. And get out. It always helps if the family wants to be photographed and if they are sweethearts. You can see from the expressions they like to be together and that they are a family.

Gregory Heisler Likes Cameras

So, you go to a class expecting some instruction. Heisler appears with a raft of cameras. He plays with them. Shows you some of his work and then dares you to go out and shoot to kill, just like he does.

“I won’t keep this a secret,” he says. Someone taught him, mentored him and opened doors to the universe of photography that he gleefully walked through.

They be his babies. He shoots with them; fixes and repairs them; and loves them for what they should and could do.

 

Morrell Metalsmiths in Colrain MA

Metalsmiths shape metal by hitting it after it has been heated in a furnace. An ancient art, it has probably been around since the Hittites, a 14th century bce group that hung out in an area which is now Turkey. Without metalsmiths, there may not have been wars, agribusiness or beauty accessories. The Morrell family, Dad Leigh and Son Justin, practice the craft, today, at Morrell Metalsmiths, relying on the same skills and knowledge as the first people with hammers to produce high quality decorations for home and office.

Kyle Bostron in Milk Room

Farmers have smarts. They need to be vets, businessmen, and dedicated. Milk the cows in the morning. Milk the cows in the evening. Feed them. Keep them healthy. No days off. And they have to relate to cows, some of the dumbest animals God put on earth, but without whom we would not have chocolate milk or porterhouse steaks.

Anne and Jason Ryan

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Doctors told her that she had a better chance of winning the lottery than having a baby. She kept trying, despite the challenge of a rebelling body and an uncooperative mind. The baby came, requiring her to make choices. She has her idea of what a kid should be. He reflects her care and love.

I never shot a baby before. Lot of work. They don’t know what photographers require of them and they don’t care.

 

Self With Greg Heisler Portrait

Phase II Final Assignment called for a revealing self-portrait. One of my classmates who drinks milk and says the white liquid defines her will submit an image of her in front of a milk locker in a grocery store. Me! On the wall hangs a portrait done by Gregory Heisler during orientation in January. Making people see more in themselves as he does defines my quest at Hallmark.