On Campus

Monday of this week I had the opportunity to do some really fun photography. I met a wonderful family on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge for some very special photographs. We attracted quite a few onlookers during our session, and that may or may not be due to the antics the mothers pulled for smiles. The children were all dressed in beautiful traditional Korean clothing. This clothing is usually worn for the celebration of the child's first birthday. In Korea, first birthdays are a major event. Although these little ones have all already celebrated their first birthdays, their mothers wanted photos of them in their outfits together. It was my pleasure to capture the images!!!

The clothing makes for some very colorful images that seem to pop from their surroundings. Aside from the vivid colorations, intricate details make the clothing very interesting. The clothing, however, is only a part of the images, and these children had upbeat personalities to give the photographs what is needed to transform them from snapshot to keepsake.

Even though the weather is still somewhat hit and miss this early in the year, we were blessed with a beautiful afternoon for this session. Signs of impending spring are everywhere. Azealias are beginning to bloom and clover is sprouting up everywhere. The campus of LSU is loaded with locations for portrait work. The archetecture and landscaping make it a very picturesque backdrop for any type of photography.

Book your spring session now!!!

Old School!!!

In case no one has noticed, I have a deep appreciation for old cars and trucks. Whether they are pristine restorations, or rusting away peacefully beyond repair makes no difference to me. Saturday night was the annual twerp dance at our local high school. This year's theme was the 1920's. My daughter made a comment that she had seen an old "model T looking car" that would be cool to take photos with in their outfits. Unfortunately she did not remember where she had seen it.

On a whim, I had her turn the car around and pull it into a stranger's driveway. This "stranger" keeps a beautiful old coupe in his garage and I have noticed it over the years. He happened to be in his garage doing some woodworking when we arrived. After introducing ourselves, I asked if he would be willing to meet us and let the kids take pictures with his car. He was more than willing, and even seemed to enjoy that we had asked. So, we arranged to meet down the street in the parking lot of the electric company that evening with my daughter and a group of friends.


Right on time, Mr. Jim came rolling up in his beautiful car. He explained that it is a 1948 Desoto, and that he knows of only 4 others like it in the United States. It is the epitome of classic from its deep wide gracefull fenders and split windshield to its wide whitewall tires and art deco trim. He intends to redo the car soon with new chrome and new paint among the plans. As for the photos, they wouldn't have been the same without using the car as a backdrop. Thank you Jim, all of the kids were thrilled, and appreciate your generousity.

Here are a handfull of the photographs that were taken with the car.

Sorority Formal On The Capitol Grounds

Last weekend my son's sweetheart of a girlfriend had a formal mixer for her sorority. He manages to avoid having himself photographed as often as possible. She, however, asked me to do some photos of them dressed for the event. I took advantage of that by meeting them downtown on the state capitol grounds for some afternoon portraits.


There are many ancient live oak trees on the grounds that have protected the greenery beneath from frost. This has preserved the greenery that provides such a nice backdrop for outdoor portrait photography.


I am very excited about the possibility of using this brick wall for senior portraits. It serves as an excellent background that doesn't distract from our all important subjects.


It was a beautiful afternoon, and many other photographers were on the grounds posing their clients while we did our own thing. Here is a sampling of the other shots we were able to capture that afternoon.

Revamping

Please excuse the mess. I am currently switching to a larger template, and older posts will not look very good. Thank You.

Where The Heart Is

Recently, I wrote a bit about my experiences and discoveries while digitizing old family photos that were stored in shoeboxes, albums, and bags. In that, I also posted an image of the scanned floorplan that my grandfather used to build their family home. Last week, I went by the old place and brought a camera along. Oddly, some of the things I wanted to photograph just didn't look the way I wanted, and had remembered them. It was a cold, wet. very overcast day that landscape photographers would usually take a pass on. But I did manage to get a little of what I was after.

My mother and a younger sibling playing in the hose.

Helen, Ralph, and Jane

Charles Adcock tossing a ball with ?

Terry, Kim, and Mary Walters

The house last week from a similar angle.

I must say that the property has shrunk. It was a vast holding of land, a frontier of sorts in my childhood memories, but isn't so large that squinting is required to see all of the property boundries. The plum tree we ate from is long gone. The fig, and pear tree are looking rather haggard. In fact, I compared what I saw today to an old photo and the pear tree definately used to be much bigger. There also was a cedar tree that we used to climb in the front yard. It was cut years and years ago. The tree I actually wanted to photograph was the one that let me down the hardest. At the rear corner of the parcel there is a large, old tree where many of my mother's brothers would carve their names. I was saddened to see that all traces of this abuse have been swallowed whole by wood and time. The barbed wire fencing...and it's posts that my father and I labored on weekend after weekend have also fallen prey to the relentless ticking of the clock. To say that I was saddened by any of this is an extreme understatement. So much that I remembered just isn't the same. Time marches on.

The old fence.

You have to wonder where those memories of grandeur even came from. What exactly was it that drove me here with a camera to try and capture? What do I love about this place? I realized later what it was as I witnessed a glimpse of the love that has been shared here.

A straw dipped into a cup of water. A finger placed over it's end. A carefull and loving taste, drop by tiny drop as my uncle tenderly let them fall into my grandmother's waiting lips.

It's where the heart is.

My grandmother doing her ironing.

TOGETHERNESS

(excerpts)

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped away
into the next room.

I am I,
and you are you;
whatever we were to each other, that, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name,
speak to me in the easy way
which you always used,
put no difference in your tone,
wear no forced air
of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we shared together.
Let my name ever be
the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect, 
without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all
that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,
for an interval, somewhere very near,
just around the corner.

All is well.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before,only better, infinitely happier,and forever we will be one together.

By Canon Henry Scott-Holland

Mary Louise Coates Walters

November 13, 1912 - January 27, 2008

Today the angel has flown

Ray's Oak tree last week

Lyn hunting Easter eggs near Ray's oak tree

L to R: Pear tree, Cedar tree, Norma, Jackie, and Karen

Same angle last week

Left Behind

This old car was pointed out to me over 20 years ago by a friend. It is located only a few miles from where I grew up and where I currently live. At one time, for a few years, I thought someone had moved the old car because it was no longer visible from the road. I remember as teenage boys we would talk about buying this old car and souping it up. We would turn it into a hotrod. Deuce coupes are every boys dream car!!!

Well today was the day I took a closer look. It is no deuce coupe, and I doubt it will ever again grace a highway with its presence. The car I dreamed of is long gone now and probably was beyond ressurection 20 years ago. It stands sentry over a small clearing of golden grass. About 100 yards away, a new subdivision is going up. The roads that wind through it are being blacktopped as I write this.

You have to wonder if sometime soon a teenage boy will spot the old car through the trees and dream of restoration. Visions flying through his head of a candy paint job and alloy wheels played to the soundtrack of a high lift camshaft and loud exhaust of a thundering Detroit powerplant. Boys will be boys I guess, and I think that this old car, while far from roadworthy, has yet to inspire its final dream.