The Importance of Photography
I wish I was eloquent
But I’m not.
A fellow photographer and friend, Carlos Benjamin, wrote this wonderful post last night on flickr to share with his fellow photographers. I wanted to share it with each of you.
Please check out Carlos’ website and blog.
I was shooting an e-session this past weekend at the Mesa Arts Center with my pastor’s daughter, Christine and her fiance, Christian. The place has this fabulous blue wall that I love to use as a background element and all kinds of nifty water features.
We were taking these shots at one of the water features when I glimpse some movement coming into frame right (albeit out of focus).
The movement was this little guy. He dropped in with lunch and just wanted a drink, so I snap a shot with him as the center of attention
…and then the bird flies away.
It’s at this point that I think, “That’s why I do this…… To catch fleeting moments that will never be just so again. These two people; this place and time of day; this little bird……”
How often you hear stories about loved ones who’ve died and what comfort the photos bring to the family, or sadder still when they pass on and the thought is, “We were going to get some photos done…..” I’d been talking with someone about getting a shot of the various members of their family for some time and one day one of them was, like this bird, no longer there. Gone……
Have you ever seen a movie where someone suffers the loss of a loved one and they interact with a photo on the nightstand, drawing it close and examining the features, tracing them with a finger and then embracing it? Sure you have. Maybe some of you have actually interacted with photos in that way.
It’s not just the passing of loved ones that may trigger this emotional connection to our art. Moms might sit on the side of the bed holding a photo of a son or daughter who’s left home for college or a job in a distant place. Parents look back at photos of their children when they were younger and you see a trace of a smile at the corners of their mouth and a faint twinkle in the eye.
There’s a reason why we hear about people dragging the family photos out of a burning or flooding home – sometimes even risking their lives. I can’t picture someone racing back into a burning house to rescue the frozen wedding cake or tearfully tracing the edges of the caterer’s menu.
This may sound maudlin or sappy or even self-serving, but as important as they may be to the whole experience, I just don’t see the other things folks spend money on to make their wedding day “special” being able to have the same impact over time as our images and albums.
That’s why I think that what we do as photographers is important.
www.benjphoto.com
Happy Birthday to Arnold! Galveston, TX
During our busy weekend, on Sunday morning, Chad a I woke up bright and early and drove down to sunny Galveston to meet Arnold, Irene, their 5 daughters and 7 grand children.
Why were they all there? It was Arnold’s birthday! He was turning 65 and his family flew in from as far as California to spend his birthday weekend with him!
This was such a large and cheerful family, Chad and I really enjoyed spending the morning with them. (I also really enjoyed feeling the sand between my toes and the waves splashing on my feet.)
Chad and I later headed down to The Strand for a cool Sunday morning stroll before our afternoon shoot with Mckinley and her cousin Noah (but I’ll save that for a later blog).
Below are some of my favorites from that crisp morning.
Someone spotted a dolphin
The birthday boy with his beautiful wife
Grandma and Grandpa with all the grand kids
And with all the girls!
And now for the families…
What? Was I not supposed to take this one? 
Yes, I asked them to hug. But they did! And aren’t they so cute!
sisters
And now it’s time to swim!
Beautiful Texas Bluebonnets – Independence, TX
My first official blog post on our photography blog..
This past weekend, Kelly and I were able to go out and “flock through the bluebonnets” so to speak. Actually, we had a photo shoot in Independence, Texas and bluebonnets happened to be the theme, hence the pictures below. Before we did the shoot, we had to get ourselves into the bluebonnet spirit, and what better way to do that than attend the 2008 Bluebonnet festival in Chappell Hill , Texas!!!! The only problem was once we got into the festival, we saw nothing that had to do with bluebonnets. We expected to see demonstrations like “how to make bluebonnet center pieces” or “how to make Bluebonnet Jelly”, but to no avail. It was mainly people selling crafts, turkey legs and Landshark beer which I did fork over 3 bucks to enjoy.
After we left the 2008 Bluebonnet festival, we met up with Tim, Maggie, and their 3 girls in Independence, Texas. We were told there were a lot of bluebonnets in this small town. We finally found Old Baylor Park and several patches of bluebonnets within the park. Here are some of our favorite pictures. The first one was taken by me (Not Kelly).
-Chad
Paul and Kim’s family photo shoot – Spring, TX
Now don’t get me wrong, I love being busy, but this weekend was crazy! Three photo shoots in two days (and a total of 350 miles!)
From bluebonnets in central Texas, to the sandy beaches in Galveston, all the way to Grandma and Grandpa’s house (not my grandparents, but for little Mckinley it was)…
More about all that later, but right now I’m in the process of editing the second photo shoot from last weekend of Kim & Paul and their 6.5 kids (.5 because number 7 is on the way)! Kim even showed me the spot on the wall where she is planning on hanging their latest family portrait. I can hardly wait until August to “update” their family photo and to take photographs of their newest addition!
Here’s a sneak peek from last week’s session…
The whole gang!
Now what is it with me and getting pictures of kids on swings? 
Newborn Angel Angela
One of my best friends from high school welcomed her first little bundle of joy into the world last week, and yes, I had the lucky honor of photographing this beautiful little blue eyed, strawberry blonde baby!
Meet Miss Angela Marie!
