daily photo game 2016

This image is part of a conceptual series  about self love inspired by the philosophy “I AM” by Deepak Chopra. Over the past few months I have been shooting all types of people in the same backwards pose hugging their bodies.  The emotional context of these images comes from my own personal experience of learning to love who I am as I age and my body changes. Each and every one of us are enough, as we are. My series will help you to understand that “I AM” does not need justification, just our own personal acceptance of this simple phrase. If we embrace it we will find that ever elusive Self Love we all need to become collectively a more unified society.

Getting 4 girls ready for thier annual photo shoot takes time. Of course they were a little too late to catch the sun flare that I had  planned to be in abundance in this magical location. This capture was taken at the very end of the shoot when the light was virtually gone for the day. There was a slight glimmer in the pond and I had the girls laying on the the dock trying to squeeze whatever twinkle of light was left of the day. This was the last image I took and the one thier parents chose to fabricate as a Lucite mounted final piece. It is by far one of my all time favorite  images as it illustrates the pure innocence of youth…

It was a hot summer day, not so long ago that I photographed this adorable, sweet child. He’s 1/2 a twin set and his brother was mostly the focus of my lens. He was honestly not that interested in being in front of the camera but watched his brother jump and play around for a self promo on boxing that I was creating! 

Just as he was leaving I cajoled a bit of playfulness out of him and I knew I only had minutes to capture his twinkle with my lens.  The prop he chose to play with was not my choice but it was colorful and helped him relax in front of my camera. I hate guns and all the senseless heartache they have caused but this image resonated with me because it reminded me of a time long ago when all little boys played with guns and there weren’t any mass shootings. In post I cleaned up the background, enhanced the color and added a bit a flair to make sure the viewer saw the youth and innocence I was trying to capture and also an awareness of how early we must teach our children about toys and the real world.

There was a magical sunset tonight as we hung out on a wisp of an island off the shore. It was after 8:30 PM and barely any available light when I finally decided to take my camera out of my kit. I was not going to ruin the wonderful ambiance of a night with both dear and new friends by introducing an artificial source of light.  I pushed my ISO and opened up my lens to 1.8 and started shooting with abandon but no matter how beautiful the scenery is, I always need the human element as a focus. This kind soul was completely opened to my gentle direction as I got to know her through my lens.