Happy Mother’s Day

Crystal wanted our Mother’s Day gifts to her to be something we made this year. I missed out on making a card, so maybe I can make up for it here.

Those of you who know Crystal know what a strong, wonderul woman that she is. What you don’t see is her every day routine of getting up super early to make it to the gym daily, yet still making the sure the kids are fed, groomed, loved and prepared for the day. Most of the heavy lifting of the family logistics falls on her shoulders, which I am eternally grateful for. I can’t imagine that we would ever arrive anywhere we were supposed to without her planning and input.

She gives so much. Her heart reaches out to so many. I so greatly admire the compassion she shows to the homeless, the time she spends building into youth, and the friendships that she nurtures. I am a better person because of her influence.

But, this is a day for mothers. She never really considered herself mother material. I’m not sure how she could ever think otherwise, since she has done a wonderful job raising two beautiful, smart, talented girls. I am eternally grateful for her; she loves her girls deeply and they reflect some wonderful qualities by sharing her dna.

Happy Mother’s Day, Crystal. You are a wonderful mom.

Oh, and I wish I had a photo of her without my goofy mug sticking in. This was from our cruise this year. I promise better portraits of her soon.

Recent work

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I wanted to share a portrait from a recent two-day shoot in Texarkana. I sat up a studio and photographed doctors, nurses and tons of other employees for a couple of different ads. However, the most pressured was getting a shot of this heart doctor just outside the room where he had completed an open heart procedure.

I’ve learned to work quickly and use minimal gear, so this one was made as he stood outside the door of the operating room while others cleaned up following the surgery. I used one light in a small softbox which I sat up in anticipation of his arrival. I wrapped the shoot up in five minutes, and turned around the image that afternoon to Jeremy at Workhorse Marketing, who was working under a tight deadline to have the image in the next day’s paper!

I love doing work for this hospital and for Workhorse. I always know it’s going to be a busy day, but a productive one as well.

The Boomers

Had a quick shoot recently with a buddy’s band, “The Boomers”. They are a local folk group and needed some new publicity photos.

J.D. has worked in the music field for quite some time (he’s the bearded dude with the bass) and is an all-around stand up guy. Even when he’s not playing the bass. Outside of him, the band is composed of local professors who share a love of roots music.

The shoot was quick and painless, even though a light stand toppled and I lost a radio slave. However, the shots we made were really nice and seem to meet the band’s approval.

It was a fun way to spend part of a Sunday afternoon!

Looking back

I’m not trying to do one of those “best of” or “top 10″ posts. I’m already a couple of weeks behind the curve for that.

But, in looking back at some of the assignments I photographed this year, I did want to throw out some of the ones I thought were ones that really stood out in my mind. The one at top was absolutely probably my favorite portraits of the year. Shot for 501, this state champion duck caller had the perfect location in mind when we set up the portrait. We took off across the Arkansas River on a cold evening late in the fall and caught some beautiful light for the session. To say he was accommodating was an understatement, although he was definitely in his element and I think relished the opportunity to try out the new prop on his boat.

Made it go faster across the water. “Hey, let’s put the photographer who forgot to wear a coat in the front of the boat!” Still, an awesome shoot.

Others that stuck out were the sunset series I did with Crystal. We got some great skies and had some fun times, and I hope we can come up with something equally as memorable this year, too. Truth be told, it was just fun hanging out with her; I just got to include the camera as a bonus.

I really enjoy meeting people and traveling to new places, and my job allowed me to meet many new friends and travel to India and even dip my toes in video. I’m anxious to see what this year holds.

So, without further ado, some of my favorites from 2011.

Christmas card, 2011

Getting the family Christmas card shot, designed and in the mail sometimes is more of a headache than we bargained for. We set the bar pretty high when we did our first card, one when Katie was just a few months old. We posed her with nothing but strategically placed garland, ribbons and bows, surrounded by lights with one smile coaxed out of her.
Since then, we have done some that were more fun than others, but have hit our stride the past couple of years. This year, Crystal found this idea online and we set about implementing it. It really didn’t take long; in fact, most of the heavy lifting she did in actually laying out the card.
We were pleased with the final results. We also have a few fun portraits with the kids – bonus!

Blue sunset

Blue sunset, a photo by mikekemp_f5 on Flickr.

Wow. It’s been a while, eh?

Trying to do some more updates. Had some fun short excursions over the Thanksgiving holiday, and actually got to revisit a shot I did earlier this year. To tide you over, a sunset in Higden over Greers Ferry Lake.

I’ll get caught up. I promise.

She’s 15

 

Katie turned 15 not long ago. I tried to approach her annual portraits differently, reflecting her maturity. She’s growing up very quickly and turning into a beautiful, talented young woman. I just hope I can always capture it.

Okay, the last sunset. I think.

I figured our Friday nights would be taken up with high school football (Katie’s in the band, you know). But, we got away to the lake house for Katie’s birthday with five or six (or a hundred, they’re teenagers, it seems like that many) and I had my little Olympus camera in tow. Right before dinner, Crystal noticed that the sky had turned a brilliant color.

I had been watching it, and it was actually kind of dull when the sun dipped below the horizon. About 15 minutes later, though, the sky had turned beautiful shades of crimson and blue. I knew I had to act fast, as the colors would be changing quickly and my window to escape the teenagers would be rapidly closing!

I’m kidding. About the teenagers. Well, until the next morning, when they all decided to sleep in the living room . . . blocking my route to the coffee pot . . .

Anyway, I grabbed the camera and headed across the street. The slab of a house that had been demolished by a tornado a couple of years prior made for a nice clearing where I could get a quick shot of the sunset. I actually used some benches on the abandoned deck of the house for a camera support.

It seems the summer has disappeared as quickly as a sunset. We try to hang on to a lasting image of the sunset before it fades, and generally the photographs can’t do them justice. This summer has been no different, fading and disappearing long before we wanted it to end.

I’m really glad that Crystal thought of this series; it’s been so much fun. We’ve been able to hang out and appreciate the beauty of the area around us. I wonder what she’ll come up with for next year?

Five minute portrait

Did the official portrait of UCA president Dr. Allen C. Meadors a couple of weeks ago, and did it in five minutes flat.
I was called to his office for a new portrait session, and I wanted to travel light. I took a couple of shoe mount flashes, stands and an umbrella to keep things simple. I had wanted to do a few shots inside and then move to an outside location, but the temperatures were already approaching triple digits that morning and I wasn’t sure how willing he would be to stand in the heat in a suit and tie.
When I arrived at his office, he walked through the foyer and asked, “Are we ready?” His brisk walk, as well as his questioning of how long it would take, let me know he really would not sit still for too long for the shot. Fine by me.
We chatted as I set up the lights; one flash behind a shoot-through umbrella initially. After a few shots and a slight pose change, I added the second light behind and at an angle as a separation light. In short order, we were finished and he went back to his work as I packed up.
Back at the office, I glanced at the metadata in the files and noticed that from the time I took my first shot to the time I took the last was exactly five minutes. Probably a 10-minute session, counting set up and tear down.
I was pleased with the results, although I still would have liked to be able to try an additional location. Overall, though, not bad for five minutes’ worth of work.

Twists and turns

I took this shot in Jasper, AR, outside of the Ozark Cafe during a ride with my uncle this past winter.

It was a beautiful day; a rare warm late-winter break from several snows that we had uncharacteristically encountered this winter. In fact, I remember passing areas of ditches that faced the north that still had snow on the ground, in spite of temperatures that should have melted them.

The day was a clear  and perfect. We rode Highway 123 from Hagarsville to its terminus at Highway 65 just south of Harrison. If you’ve not been on that road, it’s an amazing road, full of hills and valleys, twisting and turning you in a manner that some roller coasters can’t even touch. In the winter, you truly are able to see the forest despite the trees. With the leaves gone, mountain ranges in the Ozarks are more easily viewed when you can sneak a quick glance away from the undulating road.

The ride was probably one of the best I had ever been on. No problems (short of a botched shift), with Randy giving me bits of riding tips that made me think about what I was doing. When he was tired of my pace, he would jet ahead through the curves with a skill and precision that I envied and admired.

The road we were on was not unlike my life over the past year leading up to that. I had lost my dad the prior January, and had encountered highs and lows personally and professionally in that time. Just like the part of the road I hadn’t ridden, sudden curves and changes of direction were encountered. Despite that, I had tried to find the beauty of the world passing around me, even if at times it felt like it was moving at an incredible pace.

We stopped for lunch at the cafe, and both enjoyed some great cheeseburgers and fries. We sat on old bar stools and spoke about our lives, my dad’s passing, and, of course, the road and the beauty we had encountered. Chats with Randy are always fun. He talked about his upbringing in the rural hills of Stone County, his early motorcycling days, and cutting timber with my Granddad as a teenager. While talking about that, he made sure he added in glowing descriptions about for the amount of work that was expected of him, my Dad had probably done twice as much – at least from his estimation.

It was nice to see my father being spoken of with such respect and admiration. I knew he missed his brother as well as thought much of him.

I have a mutual respect for Randy as well. He influenced me in my love of photography. If not for him, I might have missed out on seeing the magic of a photographic print coming to life in the soup of chemicals under a dark room’s red light. I still remember the day he took me into the darkroom at the Searcy Daily Citizen newspaper to demonstrate how a photograph was printed. He often loaned his 35mm camera to me to take photos, later processing and returning proof sheets to me to show my progress.

His early acquisition of motorcycles probably set the hook there as well. I can remember in the early 70s when he received first a Honda, and then a Yamaha, and how pie-eyed a youngster could be over an older relatives shiny new mode of transportation.

When I purchased my first motorcycle a few years ago, I looked to him for advice and guidance. He took me on my first long ride, an all-day trip to Push Mountain Road in north-central Arkansas. He urged me to ride cautiously and at my own pace, and treated me to one of the tastiest roads in the region, full of twists and turns that attract cyclists from several states.

Just like the road, again, life throws more twists and turns our way.

This past Sunday, Randy was trying out his new Honda CBR1000 when he missed a curve, struck a tree and was killed. It’s still hard to believe that it happened.

Since then, I’ve read numerous accounts of his influence on others whose lives his touched. He was a mentor professionally to young journalists, a friend to many, wise counsel to those who were finding their own ways through whatever roads they encountered, and a passionate rider who was never at a loss for a smile or good-natured ribbing.

To me, he was my uncle. A mentor. An influence. A friend. The man who introduced me to photography and motorcycling, and used the opportunity with both to impart life lessons to me along the way.

I miss you, Randy.