people
How are Deb and I celebrating? I'm in Minnesota at the PGA tournament with my son Brian and Deb's in Sioux Falls. How's that for romance? But she is special and I am lucky. And we will no doubt celebrate our anniversary on Friday. Will I give her an opal, which is the gift you give on your 34th? I doubt it.
Happy anniversary, Deb. You are still beautiful.
(PS: Can you see the shadowy figure reflected in her eyes? He looks alot like this guy.)
Canon 5D 1/320s f/8.0 ISO400 105mm
By Scott Shephard
My good friend Jack suggested that I should consider posting a few of the portraits I have taken and so today I cave in to his gentle persuasive. Emily is a senior in high school and she, her mother and I spent yesterday morning taking her "senior photos." Emily is a great subject and we had perfect outdoor weather - very little wind and moderate cloud cover.
As you can tell, this photo is enhanced and portrait purists might be critical for this and perhaps other reasons. Frankly, I was playing with actions, filters and layers in Photoshop. I'll post a less manipulated portrait someday soon.
Incidentally, those of my generation (50-somethings) will remember that senior portraiture back in the 60s and 70s involved going to the studio in your best outfit and having one or two photos taken, the best of which ended up as an 8x10 on the wall. Times have changed!
Canon 5DII 1/320s f/4.0 ISO400 115mm
One of the highlights of our trip to Japan in 2004 was a visit to the Japanese pre-school my son Brian worked at. The children we saw that morning behaved much as you'd expect children to behave anywhere, though I saw one big difference - these kids didn't appear to be as fearful or suspicious of strangers as our kids seem to be.
It was recess time when this photo was taken. As we stood and talked to one of the administrators, I noticed this young boy leave his pals on the playground and walk up to the open doorway to watch us. I turned the camera towards him and instead of turning away, he continued to watch me with intense and friendly curiosity.
Canon 1DII 1/320s f/4.0 ISO400 145mm
Here's another one with high sentimental value. I was asked by my recently-engaged son, Brian, to take engagement photos of him and his fiancée, Katie. Of course I said, "Yes." But I was nervous - partly because I hadn't done any studio portraiture in months and partly because I had never done any real formal portraiture of my own family. But both subjects were relaxed and easy to work with. And they were photogenic. (How could a father and future father-in-law say anything else?!)
Brian has been the subject of another post to this blog - Take A Leap (02). Some might argue that delving into a relationship and ultimately into marriage constitutes a sort of a leap of faith, as well. But as I observe Katie and Brian, I don't think this about them. Their relationship seems like the perfect mix of reason and emotion - but it's not a leap of faith.
Canon 5DII f/8.0 1/100 Canon 24-105 4.0L 88mm ISO 100
By Scott Shephard
My nephew's new born son Ethan was only a few weeks old when we visited him for the first time. I wish all portraits were at simple as this one - both subjects were easy to pose.
I intentionally used a narrow depth of field so that most of the photo would be out of focus. I shot this in available light in Derek and Alicia's kitchen. An assistant (my wife?) held a white sheet of paper to the left of the hands to provide a little more light. I also used a soft focus action in Photoshop to make details in the photo less distinct. Finally, I applied a sepia action to the picture.
I am told that this picture has considerable meaning and symbolism but I guess I'll admit that all I was trying to do was to get Ethan's grip reflex on his father's finger.
Canon 5D f1.2 1/640 50mm 1.2L iso640
