I thank god every day that I have a job doing something I love so much. I am indeed a lucky guy. I recently shots some portraits for a long time client that I really liked, not so much for the lighting as It was one of those photo shoots where you have only a few seconds to photograph each person or group and they just wanted straight forward, uncomplicated lighting, but rather for the moments and emotions I was lucky enough to capture.
I just used two Profoto heads tethered to a Profoto Acute2 1200R. One was in reflective mode at camera right and the other was shot through the umbrella at camera left to help soften up the light a little on the fill side. Like I said nothing complicated.
But even when your lighting is not complicated and the client is not looking for anything to fancy, one should always, always look to get the best possible "moments" when the subject comes to life. But as most photographers know, Photographing people is easy, getting true moments where you connect with your subject, or where something special is happening within the frame you are photographing between the subject and another subject or the subject and the environment they are in, is much more difficult. But it is also much more rewarding when it happens.
It's like the old line, "Dying is easy, it's comedy that is hard". It's difficult to make people laugh as comedy is so subjective and even the best comedians can bomb on any given night. So it is with photographers and photography. It is often very subjective, "one man's junk is another man's treasure". But I think for me the joy is in the journey and always striving, no matter the type or location of any given assignment I may be photographing, to seek out moments and light and enjoy what I am doing.
I have been thinking a lot lately about all the problems in our economy and our country and other countries around the globe for that matter, and I remember the counsel of a wise man who once said to me, "You can choose your attitude, you can choose to be optimistic or pessimistic, the choice is yours" Sure there are things that are out of our control and sometimes the things that others do can make us feel sad, angry or alienated, but as human beings we are still have the ability to choose how we look at things and we can decide if the cup is half full or half empty. So I am working each day in these troubled times to take just a few minutes to stop and reflect on what is positive in my life and to enjoy and be grateful for the "moments". The ones in the photographs I take and the ones in the life that I live.
Utah Jazz player Memhet Okur with wife and daughter
Utah Jazz player Memhet Okur and his daughter
A Lucky fan and the Utah Jazz Dancers
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and wife
