A Sense of Gravity

For the past year a pastor at my church, Tim Wright, battled brain cancer.  He ended his battle and went to Heaven on September 18th.  All year long as I would see updates and emails about his condition I was drawn to the photos of he and his wife.

These were beautiful photos taken by their good family friend and fellow photographer Judy Carey.

As I looked at the images I was reminded of the power of photography.  We as photographers have such a grave responsibility.  We never know how our images will be used, or how much they will mean to our clients.  While not a warm and fuzzy thought, the truth is that we live in a world where good people die young, and families are left to mourn their loss.  The moments we capture with photographs can help to offer comfort and solace in dark days.

There are days when I have a shoot scheduled and I'm struggling to bring my A-game.  In those moments I remind myself, that while this is another day of work to me, today is a really big deal to my clients (a point illustrated wonderfully by professional photographer Doug Boutwell here).  I desperately hope and pray that the worst never happens, and that my images only serve to provide fond memories in the days to come.  However it is quite possible that the worst will happen.  I am not a surgeon or a doctor who can cure the body.  But I am a photographer with a camera, who can help to ease a broken heart.  There is a sense of gravity that comes with my job.  The photos I take may someday be one of the ways people remember their loved ones who have passed away.  I never want to take that role for granted.

Click

At the WPPI Roadtrip Conference I went to on September 1st, Joe Buissink encouraged us to do something kind of strange.  He shared how he'd been practicing looking for good photo opportunities all around him.  He would snap or tap his leg or say click anytime he saw a good photo op. This was one of the ways he trained himself, so that during a photo shoot grabbing his camera and clicking became a reflex action.  For the last month I've been practicing this too. I've done it so much, that my sister has even caught on, and occasionally she'll tell me that she "clicked" when she saw something that would make a good shot. It was neat one day as I was driving and in backed up traffic when I noticed a gorgeous sky.  I immediately tapped my leg, but then realized I had my camera with me!  Here's the shot I got straight out of the camera.  It was fun to see some of my training and reflex actions rewarded!