i had the complete privilege last night to take some photos of little kelsey in my ward. she's getting baptized soon, and her mom wanted some pretty pictures of her in her dress.
my eyes lit up with excitement (i probably frightened her with my mania enthusiasm!) and i started gibbering a bunch of nonsensical photographical colloquialisms regarding light and sunset and 'the meadows' and a really pretty glow (yeah, it was real technical stuff), and really, the whole time we're talking, i'm thinking how exciting it will be to take pictures of someone who gets dressed up and smiles and actually wants their picture taken!
i love my children fiercely. but they are mostly just annoyed with me when i have my camera out. how do i know this? check the amount of tongue-sticking-out, weird-smooshy-face, see-food, blurring-as-they-run-away photos i have on my sd cards these days. see below. yeah.
so it was such a pleasure to do this for them! i was so excited by the images, i stayed up late last night to proof them right away. even though i had a 7am dentist appointment. it made me that happy.
i have to say. something like this; something that involves so much light and life and reflection and emotion? it is altogether beyond me. i mean, i am grateful i have a sturdy camera and a fast little lens and a body that can roll around in the anthills and mucky sidewalks and scratchy grass fields without causing too much bodily harm or triggering a mammoth-sized fit of allergy-related sinus spasms, but it's not really me that gets the credit for it. it's not my light. it's not my smile. it's not my spirit shining through. and i think that as long as i never fail to recognize that...as long as i step aside, the photo will be a success.
i love it when i get in that place behind the viewfinder--that trance, that proxy, that servitude--where i'm looking through someone else's eyes.
okay. enough rambling. here are the favorites!
