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52 of Me

52 of Me: Eight

It’s been a while since I had really short hair like this, even if it is just the illusion of short hair. Looking at this face staring back at me, it kind of throws me for a loop as it’s one I don’t completely recognize. Some days I wonder if it’s time to cut all the hair off again, kind of like getting rid of all the dead weight I’ve carried around, get a fresh start. Then I remind myself that the last time I cut it all off I said I wouldn’t do it again, deciding after a few short months that I wanted my long hair back.

Is it just a safety blanket I cling to? One that I neglect each day because I can just put it up in a clip and forget about it. I want it to be there but I don’t want to put in the effort to care for it. Maybe I should be brave again, that’s what I was trying to do the last time I cut it all off, remind myself that I can do anything. Even if it’s a mistake, it will be my mistake, one that I’ll surely learn from and one that time will always heal. Because hair does always grow back, I’ve got the roots to prove it.

March 1, 2013

52 Weeks of Us

52 of Me: Seven

Mr. Happy was an impulse buy at a gift shop in Oxford while I was waiting to catch the bus, bought as a joke for someone who was having a particularly bad day. And while they appreciated the sentiment, the mug ended up in the back of the cupboard, stacked behind the fancier more stylish mugs. But recently, I’ve adopted Mr. Happy and made him my own. I thought what better way to start my day each morning than with my favorite beverage served up hot with a bright yellow smile. And sometimes all you need in the morning is just a simple reminder to put a smile on your face.

February 22, 2013

52 Weeks of Us

52 of Me: Six

It’s morning time and that always comes way too early for this night owl. My son’s shouts from the next room, “Mummy, mummy!” wake me from my deep slumber. I crawl out from underneath the warm snuggly “Duvet of Life” as we call it, the super heavy winter one that makes my other half sweat like he’s been in a sauna. The cold air hits my arms and face like an unwelcome visitor as my feet hit the floor. I stumble in the darkness into the little man’s room still wiping the sleep from my eyes. “Good morning sweetheart,” I say. “How are you this morning?” He gives me a big hug and I cradle him in my arms as I help him climb out of his big boy bed and put his feet on the floor. He’s ready to go downstairs and play. I still need to brush the sweaters off my teeth. As I finish in the bathroom, I see his shadowy figure descending down the stairs in the dawn. It’s a cold rainy dreary day, one of many we see in the English winter. But we’re awake now and breakfast and the rest of a lazy Sunday await.

February 15, 2013

52 Weeks of Us, Photo Tips & Tricks

52 of Me: Five

This year I started two 52 week photography projects, one with more intentional photographs and portraits of my little man and one a series of self-portraits. But I’ve realized this week that if I just take pictures of him and pictures of me, our story is incomplete. There need to be pictures of US.

As the one behind the lens, I know it takes a little effort to get in front of the camera in and the frame. It’s easy to be self-conscious about how we look. It’s easy to make excuses about how we don’t have the right tools or know how to work the camera. It’s easy to just put it off and forget about it. It’s easy to say we don’t have time.

But just as your kids grow and change so quickly, so do you. And it’s just as important to capture your story and the story of the connection you have with your children. Tracey Clark gets it spot on in Elevate the Everyday when she writes:

Every photo of you with your children will be a precious and priceless gift for them in the future. …There is no more valuable photograph in any collection than a mother with her child. Not a single one.

So it’s actually not that hard to get in the picture. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Don’t have a fancy camera? Not a problem.

If you’ve got an iPhone it’s a simple as using the forward facing camera. I’m not a fan of the forward facing camera’s low resolution so will turn the phone around and use the main camera with the technique I mentioned in this post. If you want to give yourself a little more flexibility, you can also install one of the camera apps such Camera+ or ProCamera. Both have a self-timer feature which is super easy to use. All you need is a steady surface on which to rest the phone.

Learn to Use Your Camera’s Self-Timer

If you do have a fancier camera like a DSLR (or even a point and shoot), they will have a self-timer. Dig out your camera manual and learn how to use it. This is not hard. It will probably take you more time to find the manual than to actually figure out how to use timer. Some cameras have a fixed time delay, others will let you adjust the delay but they all work on the same principle.

Rest your camera on a steady surface. Could be a tripod, could be the floor, a stack of books, a shelf, whatever. For this shot, my camera was simply sitting on top of the TV cabinet in the living room.
Frame your shot and focus. On my camera, after I’ve focused I will set my camera to manual focus so that it doesn’t try to re-focus the shot when I push the shutter. Depending on your camera and how you’ve composed your shot, you may not need to do this.
Press the shutter to take the picture.
Run out from behind the camera, get in the shot you’ve composed, and then watch the blinking light until it snaps the picture.

And viola! Just like that you’ve started capturing memories that tell the story of you. And if you’re not going to tell it and document it for future generations, who will?

So this is my story this week. The everyday me with the baggy sweater, the jeans with holes, no makeup, glasses on top of my head. Spending a day at home playing silly games with my sick child.

What’s your story this week? Why not capture it in pictures?

February 8, 2013

52 Weeks of Us, Inspiration

52 of Me: Four

This week I’ve thought a lot about the idea of inspiration vs imitation and the role they play in the creative process. It all started when the amazing Brooke Snow introduced me to Yousuf Karsh. I’m actually embarrassed to admit that as a photographer I didn’t really know who he was, even though I really did know who he was. I knew his work, his iconic portrait of Ernest Hemingway in particular stands out as one I know well. But I didn’t know his name.

I’ve spent time pouring over Karsh’s portraits and I’ve been deeply inspired. His images are classic, timeless images that truly capture the soul and essence of a person, in fact of some of the most famous people in the world. And I know in looking at these images that’s what I want to create. I might just be taking pictures of kids and family but in the end I want them to show the same kind of vision. I want them to stand the test of time, to look back on them 20 years from now and feel that they’re just as relevant and not simply reflecting what was trendy at the time.

And I don’t want people to say “cheese.” Kids in particular become conditioned to do this. But saying cheese creates forced smiles that don’t show authentic moments of joy, happiness and connection. Forced smiles don’t reflect who someone truly is. That’s my challenge as a photographer, to interact, observe, and capture moments in a way that gets to the heart of what kids are all about, what family is all about. I imagine Muhammad Ali punching Yousuf Karsh in the face if he’d asked him to “say cheese.”

At the same time I’ve been inspired by Karsh, I’ve also been reading Steal Like and Artist by Austin Kleon. Kleon’s fundamental message is that to grow as an artist and find yourself and your own style you’ve got to copy those that inspire you.

“Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”

He explains that “copy” does not mean “plagiarise” and pass off someone else’s work as your own. Copy means to take inspiration from those you admire, work to understand their process and thinking, and then transform that into something uniquely your own.

And so inspired by the portraits of Karsh and the words of Kleon, I’ve been copying. Specifically, copying Karsh’s iconic portrait of Audrey Hepburn. In doing this I’ve learned a lot about portraiture. And I’ve also learned that Kleon is right. That while I’ve copied Karsh’s image, it is completely different and my own for so many reasons. Not the least of which is that I am not Audrey Hepburn.

February 1, 2013

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