Florida Snow

When car lights lit up an otherwise dark beach, I thought the sand looked strangely like snow with all the tire tracks in it.

Lighting 'Em Up

I had a lot of fun photographing our cross country runners of the year last week. I grabbed my mag lite before leaving the house, and figured I could always try painting with light for a little different look. When Katelyn Greenleaf, the top girl in our county, came into the studio with her parents, I tried explaining what I was doing, as I was popping a strobe and then running around their daughter with a flashlight in the dark for 20 seconds at a time. After a few good tries, I could tell her folks were curious what it looked like so I asked them if they wanted to see what I was doing. This is where digital comes in handy. Once they looked at the back of the camera, they got really excited and were commenting how cool that was and how fun it was.

So I held the flashlight up and asked her dad if he wanted to give it a try. He was really into it, running back over to the camera each time the shutter closed to see how he did. After a few more turns, Katelyn's mom wanted her chance at creativity. I wish I had video of the Greenleafs hard at work. They looked like they were having a blast, and it was really fun for me watching them get excited about the shoot. The picture above is actually the last frame I shot, and it was a result of all of our efforts. I ended up using some of the things that worked really well in her parents' attempts in my final try. I kind-of feel like it should have had a triple byline on it though. :)

When Chase Sutton, our top boy's runner, came into the studio a few hours later, I had a print of Katelyn's picture in there to show him and his mom what I was going for. Chase was familiar with long exposures having tried them for a photography project before, and his mom who really loves taking pictures and has been getting more serious about her photography was intrigued by it. So I used it as a chance to let her have some fun as well, explaining how and why it works, and letting her try her hand at painting with light too. After she saw how my "SHS" came out, she really wanted to write Chase's nickname in the air. It kept coming up as funny little scribbles, but it was always followed by lots of laughter and her asking for one more try.

All-in-all, the pictures that ran were a result of some great collaboration. So my thanks goes out to two top notch runners, who were grateful with their time and their ability to stand still as well as some great parents who made the shoot enjoyable thanks to their efforts. Hope they liked the result.

Just to show you how great they did, below are some of the parents' handywork. You can see how Katelyn's mom's style gave me some great things to shoot for. She did this fun bubbly outline of her that I borrowed from, and she also hit the floor with her flashlight's beam at one point, and I noticed how nice that orange glow was (it gave it a little more depth and it made it look like Katelyn wasn't just floating in thin air). And like I said before Chase's mom was trying to write his nickname, after I showed her my "SHS." It makes me laugh... Can't you see where it says "GOOB?"