When life is busy, sometimes I neglect the little things. In this case, the little one being my son Collin. This past Tuesday, I didn't have any appointments so we decided to have a father/son day and go to the San Antonio Zoo.
This was Collin's second visit to the zoo. He has a book of zoo animals, and it's one of his favorite books, so he was really excited to go visit the animals again. He just turned three, so it was also a good excuse for me to take my backup camera and take some pictures of him.
Photographers call it "chimping". It's when a photographer looks at the picture he just took on the LCD display on the back of the camera. I try not to do it much. I've seen some photographers do it after every shot. I admit I chimped this shot. I knew my light looked good, and the pose looked great. I wanted to see if I nailed it. I was so excited when I saw it, I showed it to the bride. I like to think that she had the same feeling I did. In the window light, she looked absolutely stunning. It's been almost a week that I've been looking at it, and I think it's my best bridal portrait ever.
Yeah, I normally write about photography. In a sense, cinema is photography. It's an art which is not much different from still photography. I am a fan of movies. As a kid, it was my escape from life. When I was a little boy, I couldn't wait to go to the movies on Saturday. I also watched a TV series called "The Lone Ranger". I wanted to be the Lone Ranger. I had a mask, I had the silver .45 Peacemaker gun. My little brother was Tonto. Tonto cried a lot.
There's sort of a sad story that relates to the details on how I ended up photographing this beautiful wedding, but that's for another blog.
Let me tell you about Marsha and Kevin. It proves the point that you should never say "Never". Marsha is a strong woman, and a tremendous personality. She was a single mom, raising John Michael, and one look at John Michael and you'll understand the upbringing he had. At fifteen, he is polite, respectful and intelligent. In my book, that speaks volumes about his mother.
Okay... maybe it's my imagination, but why is it that whenever I'm a little late on feeding the cats, they look at me like they are going to kill me later? They are used to getting their breakfast by 8 am, and this morning it's Fathers Day... so I'm being kind of laid back. It was an awesome wedding last night, and I'm sore.
So I get up a little late (for me) and I'm sitting at the computer, and I realize that all the cats are staring at me through the window. They're not saying anything that I can hear... but maybe they're sending telepathic messages that are screaming "It's past 9:00!! Feed us now, or we will slit your throat!!"
Harley is my dog. I'm a dog guy. She's a great dane. She's the most laid back dog in the world. If I'm late with her dinner, she still thanks me. I guess that's the difference between dogs and cats.
I met Katy and her fiance' on the Riverwalk when I shot their engagement pictures. She told me that her wedding venue was the Kendall Plantation.
I've been to the Kendall Plantation, and I've driven past it hundreds of times off Ralph Fair Rd. It's huge, and it's beautiful. Katy said it reminded her of Terra, the plantation house in the movie "Gone With The Wind". OMG, it does. You can almost see Rhett Butler carrying Vivien Lee up the stairs. It's one of those venues that I've always wanted to shoot a wedding at.
The sun was bright... too bright really. Photographers love sunlight... but not when it's shining down from straight up causing strange shadows on the face.
There have been times in my life when I've looked at the bright sun at mid-day, shook my fist and said "I will defeat you! I will take good pictures despite your harsh light!!"
Sometimes I get lucky and find a little shade, and then sometimes I time the click of the shutter when the harsh sun goes behind a cloud.
It was also hot... not just a little uncomfortable hot, but Vietnam Jungle hot. But I can't complain, because my client was wearing a 20 lb gown. I can't imagine how hot it was... but she never complained. Not once. By the time we were finished, my shirt was soaked. I came home and took a cool shower, and anxiously looked at the images. There have been times when I think I nail a shot, and then when I get it on the computer I'm not happy with it. This time, I got some shots that I'm proud of.
Sometimes I get silly with the camera...
The Duck Attack:
When life is busy, sometimes I neglect the little things. In this case, the little one being my son Collin. This past Tuesday, I didn't have any appointments so we decided to have a father/son day and go to the San Antonio Zoo. 
