Saturday, June 27, 2009

David before braces


My children are an enormous source of inspiration for me. It was my love for them and their unique ways of expressing themselves that taught me about photographing a person. I knew that I wanted to study more than just how they looked--I wanted to be able to document those distinct facets of their personalities, to observe how the ways they moved in the world as babies evolved into their interests and expressiveness in the world as adults. As I've become busier photographing clients, I find I am having to make a concerted effort to continue photographing them.

Here are some pictures of David the day before he got braces. David is such an interesting person (see my first blog entry, which was about him). He is methodical, reasonable, clear minded, curious. One of my most favorite qualities about David is that he loves music. I mean he REALLY loves music. He recently took a school trip to Washington, DC and put everything from rock to pop to country to classical to jazz on his iPod. He also loves to sing. It's a great quality, that joy of music. The challenge is, he is REALLY tone deaf, and readily acknowledges the facts. But that doesn't stop him from singing. When he hears a song he likes, or when a song he loves pops into his head, he sings with gusto. In these photos he is singing songs from Ray LaMontagne's Gossip in the Grain album. He LOVES the album. I think the songs he is singing in these photos are "You are the best thing!" and "Hey Me, Hey Mama!"

If I am having a stressful day, and the image of him belting out a song he loves with utter joy, and way out of tune, comes to my mind, I can't help but smile.