Weekly Recap #11: "Reflections & Vision"
So this past month I've been blessed to have a lot of work, which put me behind on my blog, but at the same time I've been extremely conflicted on what to write about because nearly every weekend there was an absolutely devastating event taking place. From hurricanes & flooding to earthquakes, mass shootings, fires & so much more. I've had a lot of time to think about it since I haven't been posting & I've noticed some very beautiful things about the human spirit & also seen some ugliness.
I'm definitely choosing to dwell on the positive in this post, & one thing I've noticed in my photo shoots this month have been a theme of "reflection". So many different approaches in the subjects of the photographs & in the ways each shoot made me think. From senior photo shoots & family photos, to video shoots at my church, product photography for a South African tea company, band shoots & even a job touring local schools that are approaching education in very uniques ways.
Take the cans of tea for example. I've had to think about how the cans of tea absorb the light around them to avoid as much reflection as possible so the labels are clearly seen & aren't reflecting too much glare from lighting. I've also had to be cautious about what colors are beside the cans because the lighter colors of white on the cans tend to absorb color. I definitely didn't expect such a simple product shoot to have so many complications, but I appreciated the challenge & the opportunity to try some new methods like using a water & glycerin mixture to give the appearance of looking cold & covered in condensation. It's amazing how well the drops of water stuck with the glycerin added & how it helped provide a more consistent look from can to can.
Another chance to reflect & go down memory lane was when I shot senior photos for a young lady I have known since she was 5 years old. It's incredible how fast time flies, & it scares me to think that my daughter turns 5 next week & it seems like Emma was just her age & this is now her last year of high school 😱
I've also been using the Sigma 50-100mm a lot at the 100mm focal length on my Canon 5d IV for portraits. These photos of Emma were shot with that setup & I definitely prefer the color to my Canon 70-200 & 24-70 L lenses.
At the schools I shot photos at this past week it was amazing to see how far education has come & the opportunities kids have now with more real world project based learning assignments. I can't imagine how much more I would have thrived as a creative kid in a school that allowed me to make up a character in English class & write a story about that character, go to an art class and draw renderings of what that character may look like, then go to an engineering class and 3D print that character, & finish that project by learning to program what you made in a robotics class using math you learned during the school year. What a fun & creative way to learn!
This month I also shot video & photos with two bands Ive known for years, Kutless & Jeremy Camp.
One of the most mind blowing moments from those shoots was when I pulled still images from the video I was shooting for Jeremy Camp & realizing that the high resolution & clarity of the video was so phenomenal that I could pull amazing quality still images from the video files! I've been able to pull awesome images from my 5d IV & my Sony a6500 in the past, but the lighting complemented this video footage so well this time around that it seemed like I was rediscovering the method.
My buddy Pete has also arrived into town & I'm in for another extremely busy month. The fact that Pete & I's friendship goes back to being in a band together in 2004 always gives us the chance to reflect on the "good ol' days", but one of the greatest parts about my friendship with Pete is the "good ol' days" are still going. We may not be in a band together anymore but we're still filming & photographing bands together, so we're still creating art together on stage. Music continues to be such a huge part of our friendship & you can keep up with the latest projects we're doing at www.epikfilms.net
So in conclusion, I'm grateful for the work this month. I'm saddened by the tragedies & I'm fearful of the fact that crowded public spaces seem to be increasingly more dangerous. However, I'm hopeful that there are parents out there raising good kids, there are educators focusing on improving the way we learn, there are such big leaps in technolgy to make my job as a creative more fun, & I have friends & family that can continue to build on the "good ol' days" and make fun memories for years to come. The choice to live everyday with creativity, grace & love is mine, so I choose to act on that.
I've also started to submit content to the Creative Dad social media sites, so keep up with those pages to see what's next in the life of this creative.
