I recently went to Germany to spend some time with good friends that have been visiting here in the US since the late 90s. They welcomed me, my family and friends into their home and showed all of us the things most tourists don’t see. We went to some cool places and great restaurants that focused on the local specialties. It was an amazing experience!

Photographically,  I brought my Fuji x100s camera, 2 regular film cameras and 2 Holga cameras. I thought I might shoot some film, and wanted to bring the film cameras in case I decided to get a different focal length than the fixed focal length (no zoom!) on the x100s. Turns out I could have skipped the other cameras, I only shot the Fuji! I viewed it as an exercise in working within the limits of a single camera, single lens project. It turns out that the single lens worked out fine. I zoomed with my feet or just skipped some shots that weren’t doable without a longer lens. Truthfully, I don’t think I missed anything that mattered, and, I also wasn’t carrying around 25 lbs of camera gear!

One of the challenges of being passionate about photography when traveling with a group that isn’t so obsessed,  is to not be a problem for the group! I tried to keep up, and not hold folks back. We went to many different cities and passed many cool things that if I was alone or with photographers I would have spent a lot more time shooting or hanging around to see what happened. With  those constraints, it’s important to get the shot and drive on. The Fuji kept up and wasn’t an issue. Using the electronic view finder and aperture mode, I was able to ride the exposure dial up and down, see the how the shot would look before I took it, click the shot and catch up to the group! lol

I did 1600 or so photos in ten days, went through them and did a first cut to about 650 photos that were decent enough for more attention. I’ll be showing a few from that group at a time, but surely not all 650!

Lately I’ve been interested in how people arrange their lives and their things. That’s the over riding theme in the photos I suppose. Here’s a start of photos from my trip.

The tagline for my blog is “It’s Emotional. It’s personal”. As a photographer I have done lots of pretty girl shoots and they’re ok, but kind of meh overall. It’s been done before, and it’ll be done again. Essentially, they’re throw away photos. Sometimes folks ask me to do photographs that are important to them. I’ve done several weddings, and some family shoots in their homes. I take these photos seriously because the families are trusting me, and opening themselves up to an unblinking eye. It’s important to me to live up to that trust and capture those honest moments of love and life. Hopefully I’ll get the true essence and save it for them for generations to come.

Last week my friend Jen contacted me to ask if I could photograph a funeral procession for her father’s funeral. Wow. I’ve never done something like that, and I wanted to be sure I understood exactly what she had in mind. I knew I didn’t think I wanted to photograph anything in a church service, in particular anyone grieving for their loss, as those aren’t the memories I could imagine wanting to relive or look through again and again. I called Jen and we talked over what she had in mind. Her father was a lifetime member  volunteer fireman in the Camden-Wyoming fire company, and was also in the Delaware National Guard. They were planning on having a fire truck to escort the hearse to the cemetery and another with a flag draped to pass under at the gate to the cemetery. In addition, they had an honor guard and plans for a bag piper and to release some doves. Could I photograph those things for her? Absolutely. I was honored to be asked.

Then all I had to do was do it. There were no rehearsals, no second chances. No pressure. Actually, the pressure wasn’t from Jen, the pressure was internal. The pressure comes from the trust. Jen had told me to just do what I do, and she was sure I’d get the best possible photos. While I knew she meant every word, I also knew I couldn’t let her down, or myself down. This was a one time event that couldn’t be re-done. In addition to my new camera, I brought along an older film camera in case there were any difficulties with the new camera. I couldn’t afford to miss photos because a camera had quit for whatever reason. I got to the cemetery an hour before the entourage was expected to arrive. I wanted to be sure I understood where the fire trucks and funeral procession were coming from and what position would be best for capturing the time they came under the banner and then where exactly I needed to be for the graveside services and the honor guard, bag piper and release of the doves.  That’s when it started to rain. Heavily. I was prepared with an umbrella and just dealt with it.
With the heavy rain, I couldn’t hear a thing going on with the service. In just a few minutes, it was over. I was soaked from the rain from behind, but, the camera was fine. No need for the backup. (A photographer has his priorities.)  I felt like I had gotten the photos though. Was it personal, heck yeah. Was it emotional. No doubt.
Jen told me after I delivered the photos they were beautiful. That was all I could ask for.

I was honored to do these photos. Thank you Jen for trusting me to get them right.

Mike Zito and The Wheel came to Jonathan’s Landing a few weeks back and, as before, I decided to go down and see a national act in a BFE venue. How Craig and the Central Delaware Blues Society gets them here, I don’t know, but I sure enjoy hearing them.  As an aside, I joined the CDBS to support them bringing these acts to the area. This is kind of a big deal as I usually don’t want to join any club that would have me. I decided to shoot for just a few songs and then try to, you know, enjoy some music. I did a few shots of Mike and the Sax player, Jimmy Carpenter singing, catching the bass player, Scot Sutherland , in the background or foreground. To get the singers I decided I wanted tall photos, which kind of left out the drummer, Rob Lee. I did do a couple of shots of all 4 of them, and I made sure to get some shots of each of them alone or as the main subject. I do feel like I need to watch that I get more photos of the entire group for future shoots.

I loved the music and made sure to purchase Mike’s CD “Gone to Texas” and Jimmy Carpenter’s CD “Toiling in Obscurity” as it’s my policy to  buy CDs from bands that offer them. Musicians need to actually sell music so they can feed their families and stay on the road entertaining us all. The CDs are awesome!