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Welcome Baby Devin : Moses Lake Newborn Photography

I can’t tell you how excited I am to get these photos up for their early preview. Meet baby Devin. He’s all of four weeks old. His new parents were so much fun, and dare I say it Devin, cool. That’s right kid, your parents are cool. Devin’s dad is a pilot, so of course I had to get to get a shot of the eagle tattoo. Don’t you like how it turned out?

What would you save if your house was on fire?

 

OK, I admit it. The other night I was watching The Bachelor out of the corner of my eye while imaging photos on my computer. One of his dates asked him the question, “If your house was on fire, what would be the one thing you’d grab?” The response: his old sneakers. Seriously? Hey dude, what about your kid?

The question got me thinking, though. What would I grab? If my husband and son were safe, what would I take if my house were on fire? My son’s baby album? Maybe, I did just get it finished after eighteen months. But his photos, along with all my clients, are archived off site, and I would be able to reprint them if I had to.

My answer is this photo. It hangs on my dining room wall with two others from the same photo essay. I look at it every day, and yet every day I still love it. It was part of a project I had wanted to do for years.  I finally made the time during my last month at the newspaper.  I don’t really consider myself a landscape photographer. I’ve made a career of photographing people. It’s what I do. Yet, I am fascinated by old barns and rural buildings. The history they tell in the bones of their bleached wood calls to me. I have to document them before they are gone forever.

This barn I discovered on assignment near Centerville, Wash. years earlier. It took me weeks of public records searches before I could find out who the owner was, so I could get permission to photograph on their property. The town is an almost two-hour drive from the newspaper, and the one day I had free it was raining cats and dogs. I was so bummed the whole drive there thinking I was wasting my time. But, I must have done something to make the photo gods happy because as soon as I got close the rain broke, and the sun started peeking through the storm clouds.

I have never moved so fast in my life. I parked the company car in a ditch and threw open the trunk. I had borrowed another photographer’s old medium format camera to do the project because you just can’t reproduce that look any way else. I pulled out its cumbersome hard case and tripod, and I tried not to drop them or rip my pants as I climbed over the barbed-wire fence. The light was not going to last, so I flew across the old field to get into position. Ten minutes later it was over. The light was gone. Had I gotten it? That’s the problem with film. You don’t know what you have until you develop the negatives and scan it in.

They ran the photo with five other images as a Sunday feature a week after I left the newspaper. It turned out nice, if not a little dark in the paper; yet, it wasn’t until I had a print made that I finally realized what I had. I used the now defunct Ivey Imaging in Seattle. I don’t know if another lab will ever be able to reproduce their print quality. When I opened the box and pulled out the 30 x 30 print, I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was gorgeous. To me it was most beautiful piece of art I had ever created. When I look at the photo I don’t just see the image on the paper. I see myself driving for hours with the lowest of expectations. I feel the rush of adrenaline when the sun breaks, and I haven’t even parked the car yet. The chilly air as I run across the furrowed field, the heavy tripod bumping against my knees. And finally, the deep satisfaction that I’ve forever captured the soul and emotion of an ancient barn I first discovered so many years earlier.


Centerville Barn

Dana Skane - July 27, 2010 - 10:51 am

Beautiful picture, but I have to say the post of “what would you save” rang so true. One of the lessons I remember clearly learning from my father was “If the house is on fire the only thing to worry about saving is the photographs”. In an age before digital, often the only copy of a picture was the one on the wall or in the album. Negatives disappeared over the years and you only had the one print.

Furniture, clothes, dishes and toys are replacable. Save the photos. They are our link to our memories.

Welcome Baby Cole : Pasco Newborn Photography

When I was in college, National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore lived in an old farmhouse nearby. When he wasn’t trotting around the globe on assignment, occasionally he’d stop by and give a presentation to my photojournalism class or our photo staff at the campus newspaper. Mostly what I remember are his photographs. How could I not. The man is amazing. I don’t recall a whole lot of what he said, but there is one piece of his advice I use every day. Joel believes there are three things required to create an amazing photograph: composition, light, and emotion. You can have one or two of these and still have a good photo. Yet, if you want to cross the line into breathtaking, you need all three.

I think about this every time I pick up a camera, and this is forever my goal with each photo I take. I don’t profess to share the wisdom of Joel Sartore, but there is one element I might add: history. When I head out the door to a portrait assignment I am prepared for anything. Like a good former Girl Scout, I have a small arsenal of props, lights, and tools. Yet no matter what I bring, often what I find when I get there is even cooler than I could ever imagine.

Perfect examples of this came from the two newborn sessions I did this week. Little Cole was the first one, and you can see a few of his pictures below. His wonderful parents had many amazing pieces of their personal history, and I couldn’t pull out my camera fast enough. The cradle and blanket his mom used when she was a baby, an elaborately carved rocking chair, old suitcases, and a beautiful basket are all parts of Cole’s history traced through his parents. Using the pieces that have meaning to the families I am photographing always trumps whatever I have in my bag. It is their history, and what better way to show it than by using it to photograph their future.

Summerland 2008 Favorite Photo Contest

Here is the next picture posted in our 2008 Favorite Photo Contest. Voting by comments will be open for this photo for ten days and will expire February 21.

Voting for this photo is now closed with a total of 72 comments. Way to go Sadie!

ANYONE can vote by leaving a comment so have fun and help the client with the most comments win a fabulous 16×20 gallery wrap!

Those who post a comment for every contest photo will be entered in a drawing for a free Children’s Portrait session or a $150 print credit.

I adore the photos from little Sadie’s session. She is such a sweetheart, and, not to mention, she has a little girl’s wardrobe to die for. I took a lot of memorable shots of her, but this one is my favorite. She’s just learned to pull herself up, and the window was one of her favorite resting places. The recent rainy weather made the tree appear like an impressionist painting behind her. It couldn’t have turned out better if I had planned it. Life doesn’t imitate art. Life is art.

2008 Favorite Photo