I didn't want anyone to think my interest in photographing people had waned. The object for the last month has been to take at least one picture a day. Most days the opportunity simply doesn't arise to shoot people. Several times in the last month, after taking the 50th picture of a barn or the 100th picture of a sunset I've yearned to photograph people and even thought to call a modeling agency just to have access to human beings. So this day, Sunday, the 27th of January, 2008, I took my camera with me on my visit to Tom Edmonds. Tom is 88 years old. He joined the church about 3 years ago while living in masonic homes. I'm not quite sure how the sisters ever found him, but he is delightful. He grew up in opulence outside of Pittsburgh, down the street from the Mellon family with servants and the whole bit. He has traveled the world and loves to tell stories about it and is still capable of deep thought. I visit him every Sunday morning before church. He's on my hometeaching list. His comment to my camera and picture taking, "Rodger, stop taking pictures of me. I thought you were my friend!"
Sunday mornings are inspiring so I had a little creative inspiration. The object was to portray Tom a little ethereally. He's in his last days and sometimes seems to be venturing into other worlds or planes so the above picture is the result of that attempt. It was simply a hand-held, no flash, long exposure picture of Tom in his chair. It turned out kind of fun.
Since Jeanne had a ward conference to attend and wouldn't be home until 6pm or so, we all gathered at the Ditto home after church for dinner. Annie always acts like she actually enjoys having extra people for dinner, which is very cool. When Jeanne is working late at the hospital Annie always calls and asks, "What are your dinner plans?" Even after so many inquiries that always end with, "Why don't you guys come eat with us," I still fully expect her to instead say, "Why don't you take us all out to dinner." But she never has. She really seems to enjoy having us all in her home for dinner, which is another huge blessing of having the Dittos live down the street from us. The above picture of Laynie, Emmy, and Addy is just your basic pre-dinner photo op. You do have to carry the camera with you everywhere to take advantage of such moments.
Erica DeKort has been hanging out with us lately. She is here on an internship program as part of her Ultrasound Tech training program and will finish in June. Her husband was here with her but they made the tough decision that he should return to BYU in January and they'd be apart for a while. Ouch! You may as well have lived in Brigham's days and given him up for a mission! Anyway, she is cute and fun and willing to take chances. So, when Kelly and I were about to leave for our (becoming traditional) Sunday photo shoot, I asked if she wished to come along. It was really cold and when she said she would like to come I asked if she needed a coat. She assured me she was ok. What do I know, women can certainly experience temperatures different than ambient so we piled in the car and headed for the river. When we stopped and started to get out of the car she wondered out loud what we where doing. "Taking pictures," I said. "I thought you said we were delivering cookies," was her response, which directly preceded, "It's really cold." Nevertheless, she got out and took pictures with us like a trooper and we all had a great time.
One of the funnest things about photography is inviting people along. Kelly loves to take pictures. Emily loves to take pictures. So, if I want company, it's generally pretty easy to get.
It's great to have Kelly down the street and at the business. He's a good man who's fun to be around and full of good ideas with the energy and wherewithal to make his ideas happen. We're all blessed to have him as part of the family.
I didn't want anyone to think my interest in photographing people had waned. The object for the last month has been to take at least one picture a day. Most days the opportunity simply doesn't arise to shoot people. Several times in the last month, after taking the 50th picture of a barn or the 100th picture of a sunset I've yearned to photograph people and even thought to call a modeling agency just to have access to human beings. So this day, Sunday, the 27th of January, 2008, I took my camera with me on my visit to Tom Edmonds. Tom is 88 years old. He joined the church about 3 years ago while living in masonic homes. I'm not quite sure how the sisters ever found him, but he is delightful. He grew up in opulence outside of Pittsburgh, down the street from the Mellon family with servants and the whole bit. He has traveled the world and loves to tell stories about it and is still capable of deep thought. I visit him every Sunday morning before church. He's on my hometeaching list. His comment to my camera and picture taking, "Rodger, stop taking pictures of me. I thought you were my friend!"
Sunday mornings are inspiring so I had a little creative inspiration. The object was to portray Tom a little ethereally. He's in his last days and sometimes seems to be venturing into other worlds or planes so the above picture is the result of that attempt. It was simply a hand-held, no flash, long exposure picture of Tom in his chair. It turned out kind of fun.
Since Jeanne had a ward conference to attend and wouldn't be home until 6pm or so, we all gathered at the Ditto home after church for dinner. Annie always acts like she actually enjoys having extra people for dinner, which is very cool. When Jeanne is working late at the hospital Annie always calls and asks, "What are your dinner plans?" Even after so many inquiries that always end with, "Why don't you guys come eat with us," I still fully expect her to instead say, "Why don't you take us all out to dinner." But she never has. She really seems to enjoy having us all in her home for dinner, which is another huge blessing of having the Dittos live down the street from us. The above picture of Laynie, Emmy, and Addy is just your basic pre-dinner photo op. You do have to carry the camera with you everywhere to take advantage of such moments.
Erica DeKort has been hanging out with us lately. She is here on an internship program as part of her Ultrasound Tech training program and will finish in June. Her husband was here with her but they made the tough decision that he should return to BYU in January and they'd be apart for a while. Ouch! You may as well have lived in Brigham's days and given him up for a mission! Anyway, she is cute and fun and willing to take chances. So, when Kelly and I were about to leave for our (becoming traditional) Sunday photo shoot, I asked if she wished to come along. It was really cold and when she said she would like to come I asked if she needed a coat. She assured me she was ok. What do I know, women can certainly experience temperatures different than ambient so we piled in the car and headed for the river. When we stopped and started to get out of the car she wondered out loud what we where doing. "Taking pictures," I said. "I thought you said we were delivering cookies," was her response, which directly preceded, "It's really cold." Nevertheless, she got out and took pictures with us like a trooper and we all had a great time.
One of the funnest things about photography is inviting people along. Kelly loves to take pictures. Emily loves to take pictures. So, if I want company, it's generally pretty easy to get.
It's great to have Kelly down the street and at the business. He's a good man who's fun to be around and full of good ideas with the energy and wherewithal to make his ideas happen. We're all blessed to have him as part of the family.
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