Ben and Carrie’s Kids
01.3.2010
What if I told you that one of the dearest friends in my life is a guy I met on the internet a year ago? You’d think I was kidding. But I’m not. One of my good buddies is a guy named Ben who lives in Phoenix. About a year ago, Ben was looking for a domain name and I owned it. He looked up my information and called me to see if I’d sell it. We ended up talking on the phone for 2.5 hours about life. Two total strangers. Instant friends. About 4 months after that first phone call, I flew out to visit Ben, his wife, and two kids in Phoenix. In all, I visited them four times in 2009. And ate all their food on every trip!
These photos are from my last visit in the middle of November. Joshua is the big one. Eli is the little one. They’re both hilarious. A couple neighborhood kids even stopped by for some of the action! This is Ben and his family. (I didn’t take the full family picture).
- One of the most interesting things about photographing kids is that you can’t tell them to pose. They look where they want and do what they want. Looking through these photos, it struck me how much adult portraits, with people very aware of the camera, try to recreate the natural wonder of a little kid exploring life, unaware of the camera.
- I have two rules when shooting smalls (aka little kids). First, I always play WITH them. Little kids know few joys greater than when older people will get involved in their games – to run and jump and sweat with them. Second, the best photos are down low. You wouldn’t climb a 3 foot ladder to take a great looking shot of an adult (unless you were TRYING to go for that look). We’re about 3 feet taller than smalls are. If I get the camera to THEIR eye level, I get more engaging photos. I’ll sit on my butt, lay on my stomach, or squat down. Getting BELOW them can really convey magic. In the last photo, you get a sense of real closeness with Joshua – like close to who he is as a boy. In the fifth photo and fourth-to-last photo, you get a sense of Eli discovering the world.
- When shooting real life (photojournalist style), it is amazing how many photos are ALMOST awesome. You get a lot of “pretty” good photos. It might be a little out of focus, framed poorly, or a hundred other things, but it’s frustrating that it didn’t come out perfect. I keep reminding myself that for every photo I was UNLUCKY on, there is probably another one I DID get lucky with. Here’s a photo that was ALMOST awesome. A near miss (in more ways than one….wah wah).
Throughout 2009, I shot a crazy number of photos but never posted them. For 40 consecutive days, I'm going to post these shoots. Something new every day!
I actually like the near misses…it leaves something to the imagination and can make you think. Unless there’s a shot of the aftermath, too…then you can piece it together. That last one is money, though…it leaves you with a lot to ponder, and that uncertainty is powerful.