A Mother & Her Son (2 pics embedded)

[ACArmstrong]

...Saturday night, I had the wonderful opportunity to do a photo shoot with a co-worker and her 3-year-old son. To date, this was the most difficult shoot I've done. Bryson was ALL BOY, if you know what I mean. Never held still for a second.

Here are two photos from the shoot. May I present Alicia and Bryson.

[coloradoamigo]

but the second one absolutely ROCKS!! I bet they were very happy with that one.
Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Brian

[ACArmstrong]

They haven't seen them yet - I have to wait until Tuesday after the holiday weekend. I can't wait to see the reaction on her face when she sees these.

Thanks for the feedback, Brian.

[Charles Hess]

I think they're going to love these shots. Both appear to have captured a part of their everyday life. If that's the case, then you have succeeded. :-) Nice work.

[ACArmstrong]

Thanks everyone - and Charles, that's exactly what I was going for. I hate seeing these cheap cheesy Sears photos where it's all fake. I think a photograph should freeze a moment that occurs in our everyday lives so that we can stop and reflect upon it in detail - too often we forget what it was like to be held in our mother's arms or the sweetness of our child's smile at play. Too often we rely on that fake smile in a studio to remind us of that.

[Liz]

Excellent captures - both of them. I especially like the 2nd one. I think you accomplished your goal. I've shot so many images of my friend's children, and 90% of them are throw aways.

Liz

[ACArmstrong]

Thanks, Liz - about 75% of these were throwaways due to active kid, snotty nose, and all sorts of other kid-like problems.

[Ultra Magnus]

I agree with you 100%!!! My wife takes a lot of pictures of our kids and I think the best ones are the candid shots like that. I really hate when she trys to make me help her pose them. The boys hate it too and they don't sit still either.. She still manages to get some good posed pictures but I personally don't think the greif to get there is worth it.

Anyway, those are some great shots!! (specially the 2nd one) If you don't mind me asking, how did you get the backround all black like that?

[ACArmstrong]

bmadau - thanks for the compliments.

That's a black seamless background paper. I've learned that the incredibly odd shape of my living room is NOT conducive to furniture arrangements, watching television, gathering with friends, etc - it's incredibly conducive to moving all the furniture to one end and setting up a 9' wide seamless background stand and background paper.

I got the background to completely fall out by shooting from F2 - F3.5 on a macro setting with my F717 and 3 hotlights.

[Ultra Magnus]

Your living room must have been designed by the same architect as ours!!

Thanks... I've always been a fan of your pictures, even though they aren't really the kind of pictures I usually take. I'm not verry good at shooting people (with a camera!! lol) and dig photos by people who are..

[ACArmstrong]

Thanks - that means a lot to me, since I've only been at this since February or so...

BTW, why didn't someone tell me this hobby would be so addictive and expensive? I'm getting a D70 and all the fixin's in the next couple of weeks. Sheesh - there goes the bulk of one web job.

[Ultra Magnus]

Lucky you.. I've been haveing d70 dreams for a little while now. I only started around feb too! Spent our tax refund on the Sony F828 and love it but want someting that can go go higher ISO and still make acceptable picture, along with all the other obvious benifits of a DSLR. Unless something amazing happens, I probably won't be getting a DSLR untill end of this year/next year sometime. May be worth waiting for the new '05 models and seeing what comes out.. I will miss the tilting lens though! I love getting low shots w/o actually having to get low....