"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."
George: A few minutes to spare before heading off to school, spent driving his car on the coffee table. Always a car within his reach.
Vincent: Enjoying the first days of solid food. This boy likes to eat.
Years ago I borrowed my dad's film camera. Not a little point-and-shoot, but his heavy Canon camera with the big lens that required thought and skill before snapping that picture. After some instruction from my dad and brother and with a little slip of paper tucked into the camera bag with some tips to remember aperture and shutter speed, off I went. Within an hour I clicked away through an entire roll of film. The "click-click" of the lens was so very satisfying. It felt so professional. Holding that camera in my hand felt so different from the automatic little camera I had always used, I felt artistic and creative.
What a disappointment I felt when I picked up that roll of film from the store and every single picture was a blur. Although the images looked clear through that big lens, what developed was not.
Since then I have had many conversations about the technique of shooting in manual mode with a camera. But due to the ease of shooting with a digital camera I have not been required to ever fully grasp this technique. I have taken thousands of photographs, many pictures that I really cherish, but it bothers me that I still have trouble grasping those concepts that my dad long ago tried to explain to me.
That leads me to my goal for 2013. Learn those concepts and take some time to shoot manually, and perhaps without any film editing.
I came across a great idea on this blog. Taking a portrait of someone each week for the entire year. The 52 Week Portrait Project. I decided that this would be a great way for me to finally grasp these concepts. I also love the idea of taking a compilation of photographs of George and Vincent and printing out a photo book at the end of the year.
So here goes, I'm a little behind and have to post the pictures from week 3 and 4 but it is a start.
Time to take out that little slip of paper that my dad wrote out for me about 20 years ago, I will need it!
