A Dad’s Delight

Marty — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:45:29 +0000

The sun was dropping towards the Lexington Center and the shadows were creeping across the lawn at Triangle Park. I was by the fountains shooting Vanessa, a friend of mine and Tasha’s. Vanessa’s boyfriend Buddy and his little boy Brady were along for a late afternoon photo shoot.
“I knew I would need him to toss Brady more than a dozen times” to get it right.
It then hit me: try to get a shot where Buddy is tossing Brady into the air, and get the sun right behind them. I also wanted to get both the lush green lawn and the grey cement of the buildings rising into the background. Photos are about emotion and story. The image I saw in my head showed not only a Father’s love, but it brought the organic and urban environments together in a way that exemplified Lexington.
Fortunatly Buddy works out. I told him, “You’re going to be exhausted after this shot.” I knew I would need him to toss Brady more than a dozen times to get it right.
My vantage point needed to be low (to line Brady up with the Sun), and I would have to shoot at high speed continuous with a fairly quick shutter speed to freeze the action. Because the Lexington Center and my subjects needed to be in focus, I closed the aperture down to f9.
Twenty shots and this one was my favorite. I didn’t like the ones where Brady’s head eclipsed the sun (my original intention). In the end, I liked the sun kind of blinding out some of the shot.

Journeyman

Marty — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:51:17 +0000

Those that have followed this site for any amount of time have come to rely on one thing: change. As quickly as I finish a new design or facelift to my corner of the web, I trash it and start over. For a few years I chalked this up to learning about websites and design and functionality. I was on a learning curve and the only way to grow was to keep building in new and innovative ways. Having continued this cycle into 2012 I have realized that while I will never leave the learning curve, I simply enjoy the journey.
In 2012 however, that journey is shifting into photojournalism. This means getting out from behind the iMac and grabbing my camera and hitting the road. This excites me. I hope to share in the blog section of this site some of the stops along my path – through words and imagery. My new learning curve now that I’m in my 40′s is to seriously undertake the task of sharpening the tools in my wheelhouse. Writing with clarity and thrift, and capturing images that fill in the gaps where words fail me.
The truth is, I’ll always be a journeyman. I will never arrive. So the journey continues.

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Martin Ray Vaughan

A Dad’s Delight

Journeyman