At Central Park with the Glasgows
I always get nervous when I am photographing someone I know or that I am related to. Even though I know I’m a good photographer, I am thrown into an unfamiliar situation where I have very little control over the light, the energetic children, the setting, etc. Then there are the expectations. These are people who know me, who know my work, and have seen the stuff that I’ve shot very deliberately, during the best light of the day, under the best sorts of conditions. My expectations for myself are very high, and I project these on to them. Fortunately, these are the sorts of situations I shoot in all the time, so I’m used to it, but they still make me nervous.
So, it was with some trepidation and a lot of excitement that I accepted when my stepsister Amanda wanted family photos while they were in town for Easter. Before every shoot, I try to visualize what I want it to look like, given that I know where we will be ahead of time. I think of certain settings, certain scenes, certain poses that will work well. Inevitably, when three year olds are involved, you have to throw all that careful planning out the window. For this shoot, I brought both cameras, had them both out and ready to go, and then held on tight for the ride. I am always looking for the moments of real emotion, real joy, real laughter, real anger, whatever. When you have a three year old who wants to see everything–the cranes, the piles of wood, the machines, the bridge, the park…. you have to let things unfold and catch the moments when you can. If you try to exert yourself on the situation in any really overt way, you are destined for phony looking photos. And I don’t want no phony photos.
Amanda, Andrew, and Jacob were a lot of fun to shoot. Kids have a lot of energy… a LOT of energy… it’s fun to watch their curiosity and their exuberance, to watch as they discover new things and try to describe things that are unfamiliar to them. Durham’s Central Park proved to be a great place for family photos, even with the numerous distractions. It was a beautiful morning, and there were lots of visually interesting things to put behind them and lots of things to keep Jacob’s attention, however fleeting.
I don’t usually mention the technical things on this site, but I will say that a fast, pro-level camera really makes shoots like this easier and smoother. Having a rapid-fire shutter and telepathic autofocus really help capture some of those fleeting moments before a smile turns into a frown, or a laugh into a scowl. Try also to remember that even though you are shooting a whole family, that you are presenting the photos as a set, and that you can isolate moments and interactions between family members–they don’t all need to be in every shot. Hanna and I have a collage of shots (by the beautiful and talented Rachel Garrison) of various combinations of Isaac and us that as a whole, expresses our family.
So thanks to the Glasgows for a fun morning–I hope they enjoy the photos, and eventually we’ll get up to Brooklyn for a shoot.
