Life Celebration Photography - Using our passions

I've written about this before but have recently had to begin thinking about what it means in my life right now. The idea is using the passions and talents we have in us to have an impact on others and serve God.

There is a real temptation to compartmentalize our lives. Profession here. Family there. Faith in this box. Etc. It's been said that we wear different hats depending on what role we're playing...the dad, the photographer, the minister, the Christian. But it should be obvious that this is flawed thinking. The challenge is finding out how to wear all the hats at the same time (haha)...how all of the pieces of life fit together.

This in mind, I've put a lot of thought into how to use photography to impact others with the love of Jesus. And I'm very excited about the good possibility of shortly beginning to do portrait work for hospice patients and their families.

I shared this idea with the chaplain from the service that helped us through everything with my dad at the end of last year. It had been suggested to us by a close friend to think about taking photos with my dad through it all...that we might want those later. But it was too difficult to think about doing. Now, a few months later, I wish I'd gone ahead and done it. Sharing that with the chaplain, she said she felt the same way about her mother...that her final struggle was a part of her life not something to be ignored and forgotten.

It will be interesting to see how this goes...what kind of response I will get. And while it will be challenging, emotionally, I anticipate this becoming one of the most rewarding aspects of my work.

Benjamin

Benjamin, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

A portrait should be able to convey a lot about its subject. It's not just about the techniques and effects that we can utilize to snap a "pretty picture". But it's certainly not always easy to get our subjects to relax so we can capture that spirit we're looking for.

Seeing this image, how do you think you would describe my son's character? Is it possible? Photography is about impressions and emotion. Does the image lead you to believe something, true or otherwise, about what has been captured?

Combated with kindness

Have you heard or read the story about the man in NY who was mugged, offered the mugger his coat, and then invited him to go to dinner with him?  Amazing stuff!

Turns out that the mugger, in fact, went with the man to dinner where he saw his victim in action with all of his friends at a local diner.  He was amazed at how friendly he was and asked about his secret to life.  Fox & Friends (yes, it's a morning ritual) reported that he said that he is friendly to others thinking they will be friendly in return.

In the end, the mugger paid for dinner (he did have the wallet, remember) and even handed over said wallet AND his knife to his would-have-been victim.  The man gave the mugger $20 and wished him well.

I know a Man who would have acted the exact same way.  He loves people unconditionally, even when they beat him, stripped him of his clothes, and killed him.   Any idea about whom I'm speaking??

Wanting that you will be able to read the whole story, I just looked up a link for you.

Little Edgar's Photo -- 9 Gazillion $s

I am always utterly amazed when I see the kind of money celebrities make for nothing.  Well, I guess this isn't "nothing".

Fox & Friends had a segment this morning about how celebs are making big, and I mean BIG, money off releasing the first baby photos of their newborns.

How would you like to make $4M off of a photo of your little Edgar or Edith?  Unreal!  I'm in the wrong biz...obviously I need to find some famous infants to shoot because if the parents are making that kind of money, I can only imagine what the magazines pay the photographers!

We have a real problem in this country with how we elevate entertainers.  

Hyper-Photos

Right before we left Poland to come back to the US I was in Empik and read an article in some photo journal about hyper photos.  I'd never heard of them and really, I've still never seen the term anywhere else.  They are brilliant and I want you to be in on the "secret".

A French photographer, Jean Rauzier, is the mastermind behind these amazing artistic structures.  Why structures?  Because when displayed, his photos take up whole walls.  They are perfectly composed (and exposed) mega panoramas, seamlessly composited over an enormous amount of time in Photoshop.  Think taking up to 1,000 zoomed-in images of a landscape during a 2-3 hour period and then putting those all together digitally in a way that is completely unnoticeable!  Unreal!

To add to the drama, Rauzier has developed a Salvador Dali-esque style...adding various "artificial" elements to his scenes.  Check out his photo entitled "On Time" to see what I mean.  The whole beach is nothing but small, perfectly in-focus alarm clocks.  

The phenomanal thing about these images is that they are completely in focus, razor sharp, over the entire image.  What seems like it would be too distant and obviously out-of-focus is actually just as sharp as the foreground.  Just click around in some of his images and you'll see.

If you haven't gone there already, you'll soon see that the site is in French.  But, in developing their language they were kind enough to keep many words so similar that you need not be a French scholar to navigate photographic website.  Just click "entrer" and later "galerie" and you'll be all set for utter amazement!

Flooded

Flooded, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

Happy Easter!

It's terrible to see such devastation happening any time of the year...much less when we are celebrating Jesus' resurrection from the dead. The attached image is from nearby Eureka High School, flooded from all of the rain and melting snow the St. Louis area has experienced over the last few weeks.

There are new things ahead around here....exciting new things!