Colleen & Brian

Colleen, Brian and I had a great shoot the other day along two of Philly's great landmarks of Kelly Drive and Logan Square. The light was unbelievably perfect. Soft warm, pink light along the river for some great portraits. We stayed a little longer to let the light drop enough to get that great Magic Hour moment where the exposures of the fountain and the sky were the same. It was a fun shoot that reconfirmed, for me, my belief that great images come when you put two people together and let them be themselves. No stiff posing, nothing forced just some unstructured moments that show how these two feel about each other. Sure, I could have told Brian to kiss her on the hand or the forehead but it's so much better and more meaningful that he did it on his own. In each image, Colleen is so clearly emotional about the moment that it says something real and fantastic.

Portraits

Even though my background and skills/passion leave me best suited to photograph the world as it is, I have grown to really enjoy set-up portraits. The other day I shot my third reality TV "star" (Genevieve Gorder from Trading Spaces was the first, Michael from Bravo's Top Design was 2 and I'm not counting Carson Kresley from Queer Eye in a passing moment at a Fashion Week assignment in NYC.) for The Boston Globe. I met Jay McCarroll at a cool boutique in South Philly, Mew Gallery, where he sells some of his bags with his signature circle design. Jay was promoting his well-received documentary, Eleven Minutes, made about his life after Project Runway. He was patient and fun as we tried various ideas. Even though his on-camera persona is pretty high energy he was somewhat ironically serious and composed when it came time to snap away. That's cool, we all have many sides and I don't blame him for wanting to have some control over how he's gonna be portrayed in the media.

Flashes of Hope

I got the chance to help out Flashes of Hope again this past week. This is a great organization that uses the power of photography to help kids and families battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. It's a chance for kids and families going through a rough time in life to get a chance to feel good about themselves. Working for newspapers for so many years this idea that pictures matter was somewhat abstract. Photographers typically don't hear about the positive impact that their pictures have in the community. Writers have their emails and phone numbers with the story but photographers are not given equal treatment. As a journalist, I always believed in the challenge of telling stories in places that weren't inherently dramatic. Not to dismiss the work I did in those kinds of places as a part of my career or those who devote their lives to that kind of work. But I find it a satisfying challenge to make extraordinary images out of ordinary situations. I was never a death and destruction kind of guy. It's great to be a part of photographing people for the simple purpose of affirming their life.

Flashes of Hope

Here's my favorite pic from a recent volunteer shoot I did for Flashes of Hope. Something about her inner strength comes through in this sliver of an inbetween moment.