I am learning this craft called photography. I am making lots and lots of mistakes. I am also capturing lots and lots of beautiful moments of some incredibly beautiful people, and for this I am so grateful. Often, in photography, people ask what your focus is. Although I have not completely honed in on one specific direction, I with out a doubt want to capture people. People in all of their flaws and perfect imperfectness. Their beauty. Their sadness. Their most happy moments. Their most vulnerable. But most importantly, I want to capture their smiles. Laughter in a photograph for me is like a cup of coffee in the backyard on a warm, sunny morning in july. A sunset on the beach on a late august evening. Being curled tightly with those I love by a cozy fire in the middle of a snowy december evening.. and that first really warm spring day when all of the green seems to just have magically reappeared overnight, and the tulips and crocus have begun to sprout their heads. Capturing a real moment of laughter is like medicine for me. I can't help but smile when seeing it.
Ali and I set out on a chilly morning this past November in Farmington, CT. What we thought was going to be an hour or so ended up being a three hour excursion. We laughed. A lot. We wrapped ourselves in lots of blankets(and may or may not have changed a couple of times in the parking lot of Winding Trails). We hopped in a canoe and hoped that we wouldn't float away.
I am still learning this craft of photography. I am still making lots of mistakes. I threw away probably half of the photos I took, if not more. I took FOREVER to finish editing them(which has been a lesson all on it's own). But I take away soooo much from every shoot I do. And among the many things I learned from this one, I above all realized that I love capturing smiles. Joy. Laughter. What a gift to give someone, a frozen moment of their joy. What a gift they can give to their loved ones, their children.
Thank you Ali for coming out in the cold with me this day.. You are a truly beautiful woman, and your radiant smile is contagious. Keep sharing it.. We need more happy faces like this in the world.
xoxo
