Session Communication

This is the first set of photos taken with a coworker of mine. We went to the base of a mountain close to where we live and work and in this shallow streambed we found the perfect place to shoot some photos. We have never hung out before and this is really the first time we have ever come together to work on a project we both had interest in. He had some ideas of what he wanted and so did I. We started off the session a bit stiff and some of the photos show it so I changed tactics. Instead of chatting with him like a coworker and assuming he understands what I’m thinking, I started to chat with him like he is a client. I wanted to get him to 1, trust me and 2, open up and let me see his real smile or brooding face. (I think he likes photos of himself looking serious but the smirks are very nice too) 

 As we chatted and we both loosened up I got better results in showing true emotions. To me, a photograph without emotion is just a picture. So my take away and advice for anyone working with people you know but kind of don't really know is this… 
When you're in a session it’s a new world, and they are not the person that you know from work or whatever, they are a client and therefore for the time being your best friend in the world. I must say in retrospect that after we began this project we have developed a different relationship even at work. We may not be chummy but at least I can now call him a friend.

Memorial Day

III Corps Soldier, 2010 Iraq

Today I stop, close my eyes, and remember all the men women both young and old that have laid down their lives so I can be free. I am free to make my own mistakes, take chances, and live a life that I made for myself. Today I bow my head in thanks to my brothers and sisters.

~Kelly

Void of emotion?

Is there such a thing as a photo that is void of emotion?

Some times a well composed and lit photo just doesn’t feel right.

·      Is it not portraying the right emotions?

·      What are the right emotions?

 Last weekend I spent some time with two clients and they were wonderful. They not only had great ideas of what they wanted their photographs to look like they told me exactly what emotions they would like to portray. The first session was with a family and they wanted to show love and fun. They wanted their photos to show them in a natural environment having fun as a family.

This photo to me shows them in the moment of being a family and loving one another. 

This photo to me with how it was composed misses the mark on what they and I were trying to accomplish. Even though its well composed and lit properly I think it lacks the emotion of the day.

This photo if from the next day with a couple wanting to express their love for each other. They are already married but this session is for photos they want to display at their BIG wedding next fall.

The first photo here is one I think just makes them look like they are hanging out but it doesn’t tell a story. It doesn’t show the love they have.

After I made them laugh a bit and changed my angle I think I got the shoot that they are looking for. Aren’t they sooo adorable?

Sometimes when you get a photo that just doesn't quite show the love or other emotion you are trying to portray all i can say is..... make them laugh... make them cry... or just catch them off guard. And always be ready to snap a extra shot just after you take the posed shot.

-Kelly

Confidence

Stepping outside my comfort zone of just family portraits I went to the local winter children’s fashion show. All the kids were great. They strutted their stuff like pros but one little one stole the show with his slow-motion walk that stunned everyone in the audience. As soon as he hit the red carpet we all expected him to walk nervously down the raised platform with a mission of getting it done. He just stood there, looked around, stuck out his hip, through his head back and he walked that catwalk like he owned the show. With every slow step and throw of the hips the crowd roared with laughter. Some people were actually crying they loved it so much. He showed us all the meaning of confidence four more times before winning the first place trophy at the end of the show.

-KellyKay

Basic Composition

What does photography and nature have in common? They both have rules and sometimes they break them.
                
Mother Nature has so many rules it’s hard to count. Think about it. Gravity comes to mind, and so does weather patterns. For everything in nature to function in harmony there are rules to govern how things work, it’s the same thing in photography. A ball will always fall down according to nature’s rules and faces need lead room in photography. Hot air rises and setting your horizon in the center of your photographs doesn’t work. You need a seed, pollen or sperm to activate procreation, while in photography keeping your subject in one of the thirds will attract your eye to it.
                
Each one of these rules can and do get broken but in each case, it’s for a reason. So if you want to break a rule you need to know why and what you’re breaking.
Composition is something that can be taught and some people just have “it”. As you work with your camera you will start to see the world broken up just for you in rules…. Leading lines, thirds, lead room, odds, and more. You just need to know what you’re looking for. Im not going to go into detail now about proper composition I’ll chat about that later.

What does this have to do with getting emotions in photographs?
If these rules aren’t followed it’s harder for the viewer to read your photo and get the emotion you were trying to portray. It’s harder to roll a ball uphill then down. Putting the horizon line in the center of your photograph makes it difficult to focus on the sky or the ground because you don’t know what you should be looking at.
               
What about if you want to break the rules? Does this hinder getting emotion in photographs? Nope but only if you know what rule you are braking and you are doing it on purpose. The photo needs to “work”. Sometimes the emotion in your photograph is coming from what the person is looking at and you need to break the composition rules to include the entire image you want. It’s ok. If when looking at the photograph you get an emotion before you ever think about the composition then I would say it’s ok. Break the rules sparingly. Rules are there for a reason… they work!
              
When a photo doesn’t have good basic composition and a clear focus I think its definitely more difficult to find the emotion in the photograph.

Just my humble opinion. -KellyKay

Silliness

The emotions I get from this photo are love and silliness.

So why do I get that from this. Well I see her eyes are slanted more than normal and they are in an intimate pose. This isn't a normal "look at the camera cheese" photo. The giggling that had to happen in order for the photo to be taken is extreme. I do have a secret to get the emotion… I tell couples that I am working with to do something out of the ordinary like tickle each other or kiss. Ok they aren’t that out of the ordinary tasks but, in public?

What emotions do you see?

-KellyKay

So why Emotional Photography?

I just started putting myself out there as a professional photographer and as I was showing my work to a new client she said something that set me back a few steps. “Your photos have something in them that I don’t see in other photographers work. I can’t put it in words but its there”. Well you can imagine what could be going through my mind at that time… Is she just saying that to be nice? Could I ever be as good as everyone else? What could my photos have that the others don’t? Then it hits me. For the last 10 years or so I have been working with people in some of the most trying times of their lives. I have also documented their events through paperwork and photography. In the last few years I have been taking the empathy I have gained for the average person and used it to tell their stories to the public through news gathering. As I looked down at the photos she had said that had something I catch myself saying to her, they have emotion.

This conversation happened just yesterday and today I have decided to really take this on as a challenge. My challenge… Make every photo portray emotion. Yes, before anyone says every photo should have emotion as well as many other attributes, I am going to explore how I can convey different emotions in my photos using every tool in my budding career as a photographer. Wish me luck… I think I’m going to need it.

-KellyKay